Perhaps more than any other publication, ‘Real Life’ crystallized the sensibilities and interests of the Picture generation, publishing a diverse range of material including artists’ writings and projects, criticism, working notes, reproductions, and interviews. With a circulation of 1,000 to 2,000 and just a handful of ads, mainly for emerging galleries and nonprofit spaces such as Artists Space, Metro Pictures, and the Kitchen, the magazine offered a different view onto this moment more canonical accounts of its market- and media-fueled hype. Contributors included Thomas Lawson, Susan Morgan, Sherrie Levine, Richard Prince, David Robbins, Louise Lawler, Allan McCollum, and Barbara Kruger, among many others.

Further reading: Miriam Katzeff, Thomas Lawson, and Susan Morgan, eds., ‘Real Life Magazine: Selected Projects and Writings, 1979-1994 (New York: Primary Information, 2007). — ‘Artists’ Magazines. An Alternative Space For Art’, edited by Gwen Allen, p.291. Cambridge (MA) & London: MIT Press, 2011.

This issue: Group Material, Peter Hall, Mundy McLaughlin, Julie Ault, Tim Rollins, Doug Ashford, Adolf Hitler, Jacki Ochs, Robin Winters, Coosje van Bruggen, Komar and Melamid, Thomas Lawson, Joseph Nechvatal, Elizabeth Winter, Rex Reason, Carole Spearin McCauley, Robert C. Morgan and Judith Kirschner.