.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This work will be included in a future volume of Edward Ruscha: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, edited by Robert Dean and Lisa Turvey.
Ed Ruscha's involvement and fascination with photography and books stretches to the earliest moment in his career and would set the tone for the future of his art in all media. The artist's sixteen photographic books, begun in 1960, with their iconic, matter-of-fact and quirky titles reference not only his sense of humor, but his ability to see the off-kilter, the nonchalance and the lack of artfulness around him. In 2001 Ruscha created a limited edition of five photographs (four in black and white and one in color) of the edges of books, photographing their ragged edges and blacking out the background around him. "In these pictures, the books float as mysterious or sacred objects, defying both gravity and logic while maintaining their rootedness in the world through the precision of their photographic detail" (S. Wolf, Ed Ruscha and Photography, New York, p. 241).
Ed Ruscha's involvement and fascination with photography and books stretches to the earliest moment in his career and would set the tone for the future of his art in all media. The artist's sixteen photographic books, begun in 1960, with their iconic, matter-of-fact and quirky titles reference not only his sense of humor, but his ability to see the off-kilter, the nonchalance and the lack of artfulness around him. In 2001 Ruscha created a limited edition of five photographs (four in black and white and one in color) of the edges of books, photographing their ragged edges and blacking out the background around him. "In these pictures, the books float as mysterious or sacred objects, defying both gravity and logic while maintaining their rootedness in the world through the precision of their photographic detail" (S. Wolf, Ed Ruscha and Photography, New York, p. 241).