Ed Ruscha draws inspiration from familiar subjects, including roadside gas stations, consumer products, and commercial logos. Colloquial speech also fascinates him. Rhymes, puns, guttural sounds, and catchphrases are among his signature motifs. Enlisting sleek imagery and clever wordplay, his work offers a fresh perspective on American vernacular culture.

Born in Omaha, Ruscha grew up in Oklahoma City, where his family settled in 1941. He moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to pursue a career in commercial art and studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now California Institute of the Arts). Initially working as a graphic artist, Ruscha expanded his practice to encompass drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and artist’s books.

Ed Ruscha: Paper includes drawings, prints, and photographs from the artist’s recent gift to the Museum. These works produced over six decades, feature graphics, typefaces, and letterforms rendered in ink, acrylic, graphite, and gunpowder. The exhibition celebrates Ruscha’s wry use of text and image and his inventive approach to media and technique.

Pictured: Ed Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Standard Station, 1966, 7-color screenprint, 25 5/8 × 40 in. (65.1 × 101.6 cm), Promised gift of Ed and Danna Ruscha, © Ed Ruscha, Photograph © Bill Ganzel, Ganzel Group Communications, Inc.