Ed Ruscha

This exhibition will feature Ruscha’s four most seminal and influential series ofphotographs, made between 1962 and 1968, and originally released only in the form of inexpensively-produced conceptually-based artist’s books. Describinghimself as a “reporter” of “facts”, Ruscha photographed in a straightforward uninflected style, emphasizing the emptiness and banality of his subjects: gasstations along Route 66, uninhabited pools, urban parking lots seen from a helicopter, and the facades of the Sunset Strip taken with a camera attached tohis car. In 1989 Ruscha began to revisit his earlier work, producing several limited edition portfolios of his photographs, each of which differs from the bookthat preceded it. Presented in their entirety, the four portfolios comprise fifty-five photographs, which reflect Ruscha’s interest in serial imagery, in topography andmapping, in car culture and in the signature Los Angeles landscapes of pools and urban sprawl.

Considered one of the most significant contemporary American artists, Ruschawas the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Royal Academy London, the National Gallery of Berlin and the Museumof Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Opening in 2006, the Jeu de Paume in Paris will present the exhibition Ed Ruscha: Photographer. Ruscha currentlyrepresents the United States in the 2005 Venice Biennale.

Pressetext

Ed Ruscha: Pools, Parking Lots, Gas Stations and Sunset Strip