The airbrushed text on the fore-edge: text (OH) and (NO) are oriented in opposite directions and only visible when pages are fanned in opposite directions.
As one of America’s most influential contemporary artists, Ed Ruscha (b. 1937), defies categorization with his diverse output of photographic books and tongue-in-cheek photo-collages, paintings, drawings, and prints. Ruscha established his career at the height of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s, yet chose to remain on the West Coast as the art world centralized around New York. The influence of the Los Angeles area is clear in Ruscha’s works that place words and phrases from colloquial and consumerist vocabularies atop photographic images or fields of color. Ruscha held residencies at Graphicstudio three times, from 1970-71, from 2000-01, and in 2008, creating a unique print edition throughout each. Ruscha continues to live and work in Los Angeles.