In September, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will open “Ed Ruscha / Now Then”, a comprehensive retrospective of Ruscha’s remarkable 65-year career, which will run until January 2024.
At Artnet Important Photographs up for auction, now live until March 30, several works testify to the lasting influence of American master Ed Ruscha in the world of photography. In addition to four gelatin silver prints from Rushca’s Vacant lots series, the sale includes Vik Muniz’s tribute to Ruscha’s Burning gas station (1965-1966) as well as Ruscha inspired by Stephen Shore El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas, July 5, 1975.
Ed Ruscha, Vacant lots (Four works) (1970)
Ed Ruscha, Vacant lots (Four works) (1970). East. $10,000 to $15,000.
As a photographer, Ed Ruscha’s work typically captures seemingly everyday images – views from his travels and scenes from across the country, especially in his new home in Los Angeles. Moving to Los Angeles after growing up in Nebraska and Oklahoma City, Ruscha was drawn to the urban sprawl and architectural language of Southern California.
Her Vacant lots The series depicts empty spaces on the outskirts of Los Angeles in 1970. The series was printed in 2003 in an edition of 35, with each work titled to note its location. With symbols such as the 76 Gas logo, the images speak to California’s urban sprawl and automotive culture – two central themes in Ruscha’s work – as well as Rucha’s unique and deadpan depiction of cityscapes. banal.
Vik Muniz, Burning Standard, after Ed Ruscha (from Pictures of Cars) (2008)
Vik Muniz, Burning Standard, after Ed Ruscha (from Pictures of Cars) (2008). East. $30,000 to $50,000.
Drawing inspiration from Ruscha’s many paintings of another gas station, the standard stationcontemporary Brazilian artist Vik Muniz appropriates the motif in his own series entitled Pictures of cars. Here, Muniz reinterprets Ruscha’s iconic paintings as 20th century fox (1962) and, as with this particular lot, Burning gas station.
In Burning Standard, after Ed Ruscha (from Pictures of Cars) (2008), Muniz references Rucha’s road tripping heritage as well as cross-medium experimentation by using gnarled scrap metal to represent the station on fire. Also drawing inspiration from Ruscha, Muniz presents his work in series to blend commercial imagery and fine art.
Stephane Rivage, El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas, July 5, 1975 (1975)
Stephane Rivage, El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas, July 5, 1975 (1975). East. $15,000 to $20,000.
Ruscha documented road trips across America, which upon his return would be featured in books printed in large editions – a well-known example being Twenty-six service stations (1963).
In the late 1960s, a young Stephen Shore first encountered Ed Ruscha’s photographs when curator Kasper Koenig brought him one of Ruscha’s books. Shore was inspired by his innovative, spontaneous and mundane photographs: “Ruscha’s work may have caused irritation in some parts of the art world,” Shore said, “but for me and my friends , his books were a delight.”
As he embarked on road trips similar to those Ruscha had taken in previous decades, Shore developed his style, documenting his journeys in rich color. At the time, color photography was associated with commercialism, advertising, and popular culture rather than fine art. While Ruscha’s concept photographs were printed in black and white, Shore pursued American views in bright color to mimic real life. His transformation of everyday scenes strongly influenced the consideration of color photography as an art.
As Ruscha’s simple titles document the locations of Vacant lots, Shore also applies similar cataloguing, basing its titles on the exact location and date of the image. In 2015, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a major retrospective of Shore’s work. Although the museum has been collecting pieces by Ruscha since 1968, it will not have held a solo exhibition of this seminal artist’s work until the next exhibition scheduled for later this year.
Browse these and many other works by artists like Wolfgang Tillmans, David Yarrow and Lalla Essaydi in the Important Photographs auction, ongoing until March 30, 2023.
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