DeAk, Robinson, and Cohn met in 1972 in an art criticism class taught by Brian O'Doherty at Barnard College in New York.[2] Based on this experience, the magazine took an agglomerative ground-level view of the art world. The editors often wrote anonymously, reflecting a collaborative process. Indeed, Art-Rite had a collaborative relationship with the art world (particularly with its own generation) and had a close relationship with the post-minimal and post-conceptual downtown art community that was in the process of moving away from formalism and towards an art of appropriation.[1][3]
Art-Rite appeared irregularly; according to a subscription flier, there were to be four to nine issues per year. Some appeared out of sequence, and #16 was never published.[4] The magazine ceased publication in 1978.[5] A facsimile edition published in 2019 includes the complete collection of twenty issues of the underground arts magazine.[6]