Edward Ruscha Exhibit

Ruscha was associated with the Pop Art movement, working in: painting, printmaking,  drawing, photography, and film. Los Angeles and Southern California landscapes are central themes to his books. His artists books have influenced many other photography artists.

His photography is very straightforward and even “deadpan”, depicting subjects that don’t typically have aesthetic qualities. The scenes he captures are devoid of human life, instead, emphasizing structure and placement in the environment.

Artists started to view the form and functions of the book in a different way post-World War II(6). For example, Dieter Roth “disrupted the codex's authority by creating books with holes in, allowing the viewer to see more than one page at the same time”(7). Artist’s books dematerialized the art object and allowed a different approach to creating art. This also provided a forum to artists who were denied by traditional galleries(8).

Ruscha’s Artist’s books were intended to be a cheap, mass-produced commodity, fitting the theme of pop art, and are antithetical to the traditional artist’s books(3). Twentysix Gasoline Stations is the first Artist’s book of a series of 16 books and is considered the first modern artist’s book(2); it was originally sold for $3.50. Ruscha had signed some first edition copies of his books which he later said was a “mistake”(4). He probably wanted to avoid signatures as to not add the artist touch, which was another common theme for pop artists. Edward Ruscha states:

"I have eliminated all text from my books- I want absolutely neutral material. My pictures are not that interesting, nor the subject matter. They are simply a collection of 'facts', my book is more like a collection of readymades.....It is almost worth the money to have the thrill of 400 exactly identical books stacked in front of you"(4).

Credits

Michelle Sommer