lOMoARcPSD|26658602
Artist Report - ARTS
105
Art Appreciation (Liberty
University)
lOMoARcPSD|26658602
Ed Ruscha
Standard Station,
1966 Color
Screenprint
image: 49.5 x 93.2 cm; sheet: 65.1 x 101.5 cm
Kendra Toot
Professor Smith
ARTS 105
January 30, 2023,
lOMoARcPSD|26658602
Edward Ruscha was born on December 16, 1937, in Omaha, Nebraska, and he is
currently still alive. He lived with his Roman Catholic family: mom, dad, and two siblings, Paul
and Shelby. His dad was an auditor for an insurance company. In 1942, his family moved to
Oklahoma City, where he was raised for 15 years. Ruscha’s neighbor, a cartoonist, helped grow
and nurture his interest in art.
Ruscha applied to Chouinard Art Institute in California and got accepted. In 1956, he
moved to Los Angeles to attend the institute. After his father died and Ruscha graduated, he
traveled to Europe with his mother and brother in 1961. He returned to Los Angeles and got
a job at an advertising agency. The moment in his career when he started to take being an
artist seriously.
In 1962, he got invited to display his work at a show in the Pasadena Art Museum. The
curator, Walter Hopps, at the museum requested Ruscha to put on a one-man show at his gallery.
He sold six of his paintings at the gallery. He met his wife, Danna, in 1965, and they were
married in 1967. They had a son the following year named Eddie. He was making during this
time by working as a designer for Artforum, a magazine company, but he worked under the
name Eddie Russia to submit work
He had a childhood guitarist friend, Mason Williams, asked Rushca to paint a cover for
his record Music in 1968. He lived in Hollywood, so he got to know numerous filmmakers and
actors. Some of which later brought art pieces from him. In 1970, he lost confidence in himself.
Two years later he separated from his wife, and soon after, his confidence and interest in
painting came back.
Over a decade later, he rekindled his relationship with his ex-wife. He continued to make
art through the 1990s and early 2000s. His dealer died, and he got a new dealer that catapulted
lOMoARcPSD|26658602
his reputation as an international artist. Ruscha continues to work a couple of times a week in a
remote spot in the California desert.
Ruscha’s work is associated with the pop art movement. The movement started in the
mid-1950s and hit a peak in the 1960s. The pop art movement started as a revolt because the art
people would see in museums and schools did not relate to what happened in daily life. People
used things they saw in Hollywood, such as comic books and movies. Ruscha is also associated
with the conceptual art movement because of his use of words and phrases and his deadpan
photographs.
Ruscha was widely viewed as one of the four most influential artists in the 1960s. Critics
claim that he is a pop innovator along with other great artists. He was a first-age pop artist, and
his career spans six decades.
I do not prefer Ruscha’s style of art. His art is odd and not the style of art that I like to
view. Most of his art is a plain background with a singular word. He has seventy-two pieces of
art that are different types of stains; a few of the stain items used are wine, Worcestershire sauce,
human urine, and sulfuric acid. I find using urine outside of the toilet disgusting, and I would not
want to buy an art piece or other objects that use it.
Some of his art pieces have some spiritual aspects because of his religious background,
his family was Roman Catholic. Two pieces that I believe have a spiritual aspect are called Sin
and Evil. The main feelings I have are confusion and disgust. He also has a few paintings of bugs
specifically ants, cockroaches, and flies. Ruscha’s work does not stimulate my intellect because I
do not understand the point of a majority of his work. Some of his work was popular during the
time it was made because the visuals of from movies and advertising. In turn, it made his work
relatable.
lOMoARcPSD|26658602
References
Common English Bible (2013). The CEB Study Bible. (Original work published 2011).
Ed Ruscha paintings, Bio, ideas. The Art Story. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2023, from
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/ruscha-ed/
Ed Ruscha. Artist Info. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2023,
from https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-
info.2724.html
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2022, December 12). Ed Ruscha. Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ed-
Ruscha
Getlein, M. (2020). Living with Art (Twelfth). McGraw-Hill Education.
Pop Art. Tate. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2023,
from
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/pop-art
Schwartz, A. (2005). “Second City”: Ed Ruscha and the Reception of Los Angeles Pop. October,
111, 23–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3397671
