Description:
Hollywood, gas stations, and the airbrushed style of commercial graphics figure predominantly in Ed Ruscha's art. One of the first artists to use text and pop imagery in his paintings, he captured the America of Route 66 and the Sunset Strip. Not tied down to painting, he produced books of photographs that catalog life with a dry, deadpan humor, including Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming Pools, and Some Los Angeles Apartments. Ruscha began his artistic endeavors with plans to become a commercial artist. With his 1956 arrival in Los Angeles and its art community, he was fast on his way to becoming a major creative force with a uniquely American perspective. The publication of Ed Ruscha coincides with the first traveling retrospective of Ruscha's work in nearly 20 years. Launched at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the show covers his illustrious career from the 1960s through the present. If you can't make it to any of the show's other stops--Chicago, Fort Worth, Miami, or Oxford, England--then this book is a must-have. Included are three essays that elaborate on Ruscha's paintings, use of language, and photography in the context of art history by drawing parallels to earlier American painters and the history of documentary photography. Ruscha defies categorization by straddling both pop and conceptual art with his funny, elegant, and thoughtful work. --J.P. Cohen
| 
