Edward Ruscha

"There are things that I’m constantly looking at that I feel should be elevated to greater status, almost to philosophical status or to a religious status. That’s why taking things out of context is a useful tool to an artist. It’s the concept of taking something that’s not subject matter and making it subject matter. --Ed Rusha Edward Ruscha (b. December 16, 1937, Omaha, NE) is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement. He has worked in multiple media, including painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, film, and artist's books. The artist lives and works in Culver City, CA. Ruscha studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in CA. While in school, Ruscha was influenced by Jasper Johns' "Target with Four Faces." Ruscha considered how he could employ graphics in order to expose painting's dual identity as both object and illusion. After graduation, Ruscha worked as a layout artist for the Carson-Roberts advertising agency in Los Angeles. Ruscha achieved recognition for painting incorporating words and phrases and for his many photographic books, all influenced by the deadpan irreverence of the Pop Art movement. His textural, flat paintings have been linked with both Pop Art and the beat generation. In a 1961 tour of Europe, the artist saw more works by Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. By the early 1960s, he was well known for his paintings, collages, and photographs. As with Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Ruscha's artistic training was rooted in commercial art. His interest in words and typography provided the primary subjects of his paintings, prints, and photographs. In the 1970s, Ruscha, with Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, among others, began using entire phrases in their works. The city of Los Angeles, where Ruscha has lived and worked since 1956, has had enormous influence on the artist. The everyday or commonplace is the subject matter of many of the artist's paintings, photographs, books, prints, and drawings.