The edition collects the full run of the underground arts magazine, compiling all twenty issues in a single volume spanning 678 pages. Drawn from the archives of editor Edit DeAk, the show traces the early history of Art-Rite through an array of original production materials, much of which is on display for the first time. Given the established links between the banking system and the art market, Art-Rite promotes collaboration with financial institutions and operators as well as the investment in art as an asset class. Edited by Walter Robinson, Edit DeAk, and Joshua Cohn, Art-Rite was published in New York City between 1973 and 1978.

Mike [Robinson] was multitalented: He had eloquence, brilliant descriptive gifts, he was a fine critic, and he was going to be a really fine artist. Asked to name a highlight of Art-Rite’s run, deAk and Robinson independently choose the same issue: no. But New Yorkers, living by Plato’s dictum, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” created brand new forms of art and culture—and nobody could stop them. June 1978) special issue published in collaboration with The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art LAICA Journal with cover by Chris Burden ; No.

We felt none of us knew anything alone, but maybe the three of us together had a better chance of knowing something.

These artists’ issues were surely one model for Artforum’s artist’s project series the following decade; in February 1980, in fact, MacConnel redid his Art-Rite project in two spreads of Artforum, using a few of the same drawings, this time partly in color. Through hundreds of interviews, reviews, statements, and projects for the page—as well as artist-focused and thematic issues on video, painting, performance, and artists’ books—Art-Rite’s sharp editorial vision and commitment to spotlighting the work of artists stands as a meaningful and lasting contribution to the art history of New York City and beyond.The magazine adopted a humble zine like format with newsprint pages and covers by a number of artists including Les Levine, William Wegman, Richard Tuttle, Christo, Vito Acconci, Joseph Beuys, Edward Ruscha, Carl Andre, and others.