Ed Ruscha
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Biography
Pop artist Ed Ruscha was born in Nebraska and moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to study at the Chouinard Art Institute with the intention of becoming a commercial artist. He gained quick recognition in the 1960s as a representative of the Pop Art movement and a successor of the Beat Generation for his collages and text-based pieces. As a painter, drawer, and filmmaker, Ruscha has been heavily influenced both by his love for graphic arts and the the city of Los Angeles. In the 1980s, Ruscha intensified the mysticism in his compositions, working with rays of light, constellations, and other celestial themes. Ruscha is best known for his witty and enigmatic incorporation of text and Urban and Western landscapes to comment on the myths of American Romanticism, commercial culture, and urban life with humour and irony. He sometimes uses unusual media in his work, including fruit and vegetable juices, blood, gunpowder, and grass stains, as seen in his Stains series. He has held several retrospectives in New York; Washington, DC; London; Paris; and Munich and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001.
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Timeline
1937 Born in Omaha, Nebraska
1948 Enrolled in his first painting class with portrait painter Richard Goetz
1956-1960 Moved to Los Angeles at age eighteen, studied at the Chouinard Art Institute
Early 1960s Worked in advertising as a layout artist and sign painter
1962 First prints were lithographs executed; published "Twentysix Gasoline Stations," his first artist book
1963-1978 Systematically photographed southern California's built environments, including vacant parking lots, swimming pools, and nightspots, which he made into wordless books
1970s Experimented with a range of techniques in drawings, prints, and paintings, including depictions of graphite pencils—broken, splintered, and melted
1974 Awarded the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Medal in Graphics
2023-2024 "ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN" opened at MoMA in 2023 and traveled to LACMA in 2024—his first comprehensive retrospective in more than twenty years, including over 250 works
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Selected Exhibitions
2005-6 Cotton Puffs, Q-Tips®, Smoke and Mirrors, US museum tour
2006 Ed Ruscha: Photographer, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY and the Musée National Jeu de Paume, Paris
2011 Ed Ruscha: Road Tested, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX, USA
2012 Reading Ed Ruscha, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
2012 Ed Ruscha: Standard, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2013 In Focus: Ed Ruscha, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
2018 Ed Ruscha: Course of Empire, National Gallery, London, UK
2019 Some of the artists I have worked for, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK
2023 ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
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Works
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Ed RuschaDish, 1973Lithograph on roll Rives paper, torn edges -
Ed RuschaEvil, 1973Screenprint on Wood-Grain Veneer paper, cut edges, bleed image
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Ed RuschaRaw, 1971Screenprint on Louvain opaque cover paper, razor-cut edges
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Ed RuschaSuds (Blue), 1971Screenprint on white Arches paper, cut edges, bleed image
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Ed RuschaSuds (Turquoise), 1971Screenprint on white Arches paper, cut edges, bleed image
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Ed RuschaBrews, 1970Screenprint on paper
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Ed RuschaCrackers, from 'Book Covers', 1970Lithograph on white Arches paper
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Ed RuschaLisp, 1970Lithograph on white Arches paper, torn and deckle edges, bleed image
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Ed RuschaOOO (W. A. C. 44), 1970Lithograph on White Arches paper, torn and deckle edges, bleed image
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Ed RuschaPepto - Caviar Hollywood, 1970Screenprint on Copperplate Deluxe paper, torn and deckle edges
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Ed RuschaTwenty Six Gasoline Stations, 1970Lithograph on white Arches paper
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Ed RuschaCarp with Fly, 1969Lithograph on White Arches paper; torn and deckle edges
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Exhibitions
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Ed Ruscha: Made in California
10 March - 14 April 2022Bernard Jacobson Gallery exhibits iconic prints by the American artist Ed Ruscha. Bringing together several prints published by Bernard Jacobson in the 1970s and early 1980s, the show also includes... -
Prints I wish I had published
11 January - 9 February 2019In 1969 Bernard Jacobson opened his first London gallery – a fourth-floor walk-up on Mount Street, Mayfair, dealing in prints by international stars, including Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, as... -
Prints I published
12 February - 9 March 2019In 1969 Bernard Jacobson began his career as an art dealer, selling and publishing prints by important contemporary artists from a small fourth-floor gallery in London’s Mayfair. For a gallery... -
Some of the artists I have worked for
10 September - 5 October 2019To end the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the gallery, we are delighted to introduce a selection of works by the artists that helped shaping its success.
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Art Fairs
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Publications
