Product Description

Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) initially gained attention in the early 1960s with paintings, drawings, and photographic books that focused on his fascination with the unique culture, vernacular, and sensibility of his adopted home of Los Angeles. Ruscha has been considered a 'West Coast' artist, and although Los Angeles is undeniably the source of inspiration for his art, the themes he addresses are far-reaching and universal. A growing interest in Ruscha's work in recent years has led to major exhibitions that toured the United States,

and a number of individual shows in Europe, which

re-evaluate his art in this broader scope.

This book is the first monograph on Ruscha's work; it looks with discernment and insightful detail at the prolific and many-faceted career of an artist whose work has been variously described as pop, conceptual, or surrealist; a painter as well as a print-, book-, and filmmaker. The thematic and loosely chronological structure of the book brings to light the diversity

and depth of Ruscha's art, while at the same time underlining the continuity and recurrence of themes and ideas within his ever surprising and prolific career.

Richard D. Marshall is an independent curator and critic who, during his twenty-year tenure as curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art worked extensively with Ruscha. He is the author of Edward Ruscha Los Angeles Apartments, and has published many books and exhibition catalogues on artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Louise Bourgeois, among others.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #721737 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this lavish monograph, Marshall wastes no time making the familiar Pop Art connections between Ed Ruscha and his 1960s contemporaries; thumbnails of work by Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol precede full-page reproductions of Felix the Cat, the Twentieth Century Fox trademark and a flying can of Spam. In uninflected, jargon-free prose, the former Whitney curator traces the artist's early trajectory from art school training to Abstract Expressionist experimentation to his full stride with iconic West Coast landscapes-the Hollywood sign, a Standard gasoline station-starkly rendered in popping color, hard edges, thrusting diagonals and vanishing horizons. Organized by subject matter, the volume quickly moves beyond 60s Pop, though Marshall continues to look backward, citing influences from René Magritte to Walker Evans. As later chapters explore "Single Words," "Bouncing Objects, Floating Things," "Thought and Phrases" and "Landscapes and Skies," a definite artistic agenda emerges. Whether in a limited edition book devoted to 34 parking lots, an oil painting of olives falling against a gradated background, or a pastel of the word "sex," Ruscha seeks to isolate objects-especially words-from their context; "Words are pattern-like... they are almost not words-they are objects that become words." Including a list of the nearly 400 words used over a period of 13 years, this monograph offers a comprehensive examination of a quintessentially American artist. 324 color illustrations
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Richard Marshall is an independent curator and critic who, during his twenty-year tenure as curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, worked extensively with Ruscha. He is the author of Edward Ruscha Los Angeles Apartments, and has published many books and exhibition catalogues on artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Louise Bourgeois, among others. In 2002 he curated the exhibition Edward Ruscha: Made in Los Angeles at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid Author's Residence: New York, NY.

Customer Reviews

A Noble Monograph of an American Icon
With the recent news that artist Ed Ruscha has been selected to represent the USA at the 2005 Venice Biennale, it becomes even more important to access the impact of this consistently important artist. ED RUSCHA is a book to accompany the important retrospective of the artist's works throughout his career - from his introduction in the 1960's POP ART movement to the present. The book is lavishly illustrated with excellent reproductions of Ruscha's work and not only repeats the images we have all grown to associate with Pop Art (especially in California) such as his infamous Hollywood sign and Standard Gas Station, images that have endeared him to America much in the same vein as Edward Hopper: it also explores the single word paintings and the artistic comments on our environment that grow more pertinent every day.In addition to this fine book as a full compendium of Ruscha's painting and prints, it is also a wisely written treatise by author Edward D. Marshall in a series of essays that are as fine as any in print in today's museum catalogues. This is a definitive volume on an important artist: it is also a book that would be enjoyed by every guest sitting near your coffee table. Here is a bit of Americana of which we can still be proud!
Grady Harp, October 2004

Los Angeles Pop
Apart from the catalogue raisonné, this book is the best and most complete publication on the work of this Californian master of Pop Art who invented a new language by, precisely, using everyday words, slogans or phrases as the core of his art, also reinventing the Californian (or even American) landscape in paintings that have become icons of American Art.

The book covers Ruscha's works chronologically, from the late fifties (a tempera on board entitled "School Assignments") to the early years of the XXIst century, with hundreds of beautiful illustrations and numerous photographic documents, tracing his sources of inspiration and quoting many unpublished texts on the artist.

Highly recommended.

A dashing contribution to modern and forward-thinking artbook shelves
Ed Ruscha is a vast gallery of photographer and artist Ed Ruscha's (b. 1937) works. Centering around the popular and often mercantile culture of his Los Angeles home, Ruscha's creations often focus on blending text with art - such as the word "Vanish" spread against a red background fading to black near the top. An avant-garde modern art edge distinguishes this monograph, with many works featuring a crisp and sharp outline or stylized arrangements of text that appear practically 21st century rather than 20th. Very little written text intersperses the monograph; independent curator and critic Richard D. Marshall offers insightful reflections upon Ruscha's creations, but the majority of Ed Ruscha is devoted entirely to the artworks themselves in all their visual and colorful splendor. A dashing contribution to modern and forward-thinking artbook shelves.