Ed Ruscha

Ed  Ruscha’s early paintings attracted notice as part of the Pop art movement of the 1960s; his art also has antecedents in Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism, and would be central to Conceptual Art. The artist has his own view of the world and likes to take things out of their traditional context in order to give them new meaning with his art. In his most famous works, Ruscha places words and phrases from the colloquial and consumerist vernacular atop photographic images or fields of color. Ruscha often uses unusual materials such as gunpowder, blood, and Pepto Bismol, drawing attention to the deterioration of language and the pervasive clichés in American culture. His work includes paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, artist’s books and films. They set standards with his unmistakably cool aesthetic and became a role model for a whole series of international artists.