Customer Reviews

Ed Ruscha

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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

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of beautiful illustrations and numerous photographic documents, tracing his sources of inspiration and quoting many unpublished texts on the artist.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.

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.