Restlessly inventive, Ruscha (pronounced roo-SHAY)
has remained a step ahead and apart from the art trends
and movements of his time. Pop Art, Conceptual Art,
Surrealism, Photo-Realism, and today's renewed focus on
painting resonate in a body of work that ultimately
defies categorization. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1937,
Ruscha lived in Oklahoma City until he moved permanently
to Los Angeles in 1956, where he studied at the
Chouinard Art Institute until 1960. Side jobs in
typography and layout, a revelatory trip to Europe, and
influential encounters with Jasper Johns' art
contributed to an artistic vision attuned to the prosaic
look and language of popular culture. By the early 1960s
Ruscha was well known for his paintings, collages, and
printmaking, and for his association with the Ferus
Gallery group, which also included artists Robert Irwin,
Edward Moses, Ken Price, and Edward Kienholz. He later
achieved recognition for his paintings incorporating
words and phrases and for his many photographic books.
This book, now in paperback, is the first monograph on
Ed Rucha.It is organized in thematic chapters that
follow the work roughly chronologically concluding with
his recent ''mirror mountains'' works (shown at the
Gagosian Gallery in NY in spring 2002). This
organization brings to light the surprising diversity of
Ruscha's work, while at the same time showing the
recurrence of themes and styles throughout his career.
Rather than focusing on a long, daunting scholarly essay
illustrated by the artist's painting, this book is first
and foremost about the work. Rather than using the
paintings to illustrate his text, author Richard
Marshall, in the manner of an informed curator, writes
his text to illustrate the paintings. This is obvious in
the design of the book, which allows the work to speak
for itself in generous, beautifully reproduced plate
sections. |
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