paperback
14,75 x 20,95 cm
552 pages

Texts by Rhonda Lieberman
Edited by Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer
Designed in collaboration with Lauren Mackler
Co-published by Viscose, bierke, and Pep Talk

Viscose Canon Series

2026 edition co-edited by Marley Wendt and Jeppe Ugelvig
Design updates by stanza

Originally published in 2018 as:
PEP TALK 7: The Rhonda Lieberman Reader

ISBN: 978-3-948546-57-1

Rhonda Lieberman’s high-intensity textual output became a mainstay of American criticism at the turn of the millennium. Thirty-some years after she emerged in New York City armed to the teeth with theory and casting its art society as the ambivalent subject of her fieldwork, the sociological obviousness of her claim—that art is an object of taste and must be dealt with accordingly—remains a provocation, not least to the mandarins of the field still wedded to the doctrine of art’s aesthetic autonomy.

After eight years, the first published collection of Rhonda Lieberman’s writing has returned, as hefty as ever! The Rhonda Lieberman Reader compiles 90+ selected essays, reviews, talks, columns and interviews, including nearly all of the author’s Glamour Wounds and Artforum Diaries. The volume spans three decades of Lieberman’s work, including syllabi and course materials from Lieberman’s time teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 90s. Illustrations of artworks by Lieberman are also featured, as well as an autobiographical text, reflections by a former student, and a conversation between Lieberman, Bruce Hainley and Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer, as well as the addition of major recent essays such as “Painting over the Dirty Truth” (2019).

First published by Pep Talk in 2018, The Rhonda Lieberman Reader is re-printed by Viscose as part of the Viscose Canon series, a collection of fashion criticism classics. With an introduction by Jeppe Ugelvig and additional contributors including Charlie Fox, Bruce Hainley, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer, and Todd Meyers.