Ed Ruscha: Gunpowder and Stains

One of the most consistently inventive artists of recent times, Los Angeles-based Ed Ruscha has been a pioneer in the use of language and imagery drawn from the popular media. From his early powerful word paintings to his influential artist's books of the sixties and seventies to his recent colorful views of generic mountains, Ruscha has investigated the spaces between highways and journeys, images and words, abstraction and representation, public imagery and the contemporary landscape. "Ed Ruscha: Gunpowder and Stains" presents some of Ruscha's most amazing illustrations from the 1970s--images that feature cryptic slogans, often reminiscent of advertising language, at turns obscured and revealed by the artist's hand. The book also features two important essays: a very personal commentary on Ruscha's impact by Thomas Demand, and an article by Diedrich Diederichsen that offers an in-depth exploration of Ruscha's combination of images and typed letters.