Ed Ruscha [Paperback]

Richard D. Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2005

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.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (June 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714845485
• ISBN-13: 978-0714845487
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Noble Monograph of an American Icon, October 30, 2004

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ed Ruscha (Hardcover)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Los Angeles Pop, October 23, 2008

By 

Claude Reich (Florianopolis, Brazil and Paris, France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ed Ruscha (Paperback)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dashing contribution to modern and forward-thinking artbook shelves, March 5, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ed Ruscha (Paperback)

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.