This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
REVIEWS BOOKS
REAL LIFE MAGAZINE:
SELECTED WRITINGS
AND PROJECTS
one.linnine.linseven.linnine.linendash.capone.linnine.linnine.linfour.lin
Edited by Miriam Katzeff, Thomas Lawson & Susan Morgan
Introductions by Thomas Lawson, Susan Morgan & Matthew Higgs
Primary Information, $30 (paperback)
In the early 1980s, a high level of activity in New
York went unexamined (at first) by the big art
magazines and commercial galleries, a perceived
gap from which REAL LIFE magazine emerged.
Founded in 1979 by artist Thomas Lawson and
writer Susan Morgan, REAL LIFE started as a engage in, including Mike Kelley, Chris Burden,
public forum for under-regarded or unregarded Dave Muller and Critical Art Ensemble. Much of
artists and writers, so that they would develop in REAL LIFE’s print run coincided with the rise and
an atmosphere of serious criticism. It just so turns collapse of the last big art boom, and the magazine
out that many of these artists emerged as either so accurately captures the again-familiar talk of
some of the most significant of their generation or the ever-impending bust. And the editors’ move
as necessary reassessments from the previous one: from New York to Los Angeles mirrored the shift
Dan Graham, Jeff Wall, Barbara Kruger, James away from the East Coast art capital towards its
Welling, Richard Prince and Kim Gordon, along self-appointed successor.
with Lawson and Morgan, to name just a few. Though emerging organically out of a
One of the problems that can arise from particular milieu (the broken-down ruins of New
collecting the back issues of an old magazine into York in the late 1970s, late-night conversations in
a book is that everything that felt fresh and vital East Village tenements), the critical acuity of the
at the time may feel, upon updated examination, essays contained within are incredible, both in
dustily, painfully and irredeemably dated today. their depth and authority. So many of the fanzines
But looking through REAL LIFE Magazine: and magazines to come out of this era were
Selected Writings and Projects 1979–1994, I’m amateurish, market driven or simply stodgy; REAL
astonished by the freshness of the writing. REAL LIFE manages, like much of the art concerned in
LIFE documents the early evidence of the vibrant the magazine – as Lawson is quoted as saying
art scene developing in the early 1980s, capturing in Matthew Higgs’s introduction – to embody a
the shifting away from post-minimalist puritanism ‘familiarity towards popular culture. A mixture of
into the decadence of expressive painting, love and contempt for the ever present images
narrative and pop culture reappropriation. But the of capitalist consumerism.’ As editors, Lawson
magazine transcends being a simple document of and Morgan seem to understand the seductive
the time, and the writing, such as Jeff Wall’s long quality of pop culture, mixing this awareness with
essay on Dan Graham, fascinates for its depth and an acute critical awareness. Critical without falling
clarity rather than the who or when of it. into the jargon of academia, hip without being
As the scene changed shape, so did the hipster, dealing directly with culture in a manner
magazine, moving away from its original core both incisive and informed, REAL LIFE Magazine
to find new artists and new conversations to renews our sense of the vitality of a particular
time, and underscores its relevance for ours.
Andrew Berardini
one.linsix.linthree.lin ARTREVIEW
p162-165 Reviews AR Jun07.indd 3 3/5/07 17:39:10
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 144 Page 145 Page 146 Page 147 Page 148 Page 149 Page 150 Page 151 Page 152 Page 153 Page 154 Page 155 Page 156 Page 157 Page 158 Page 159 Page 160 Page 161 Page 162 Page 163 Page 164 Page 165 Page 166 Page 167 Page 168 Page 169 Page 170