Ed Ruscha and The Great American West at The De Young SF

My wife’s dad came out to SF from Florida for a visit and we had the chance to all go see the Ed Ruscha exhibit. Ed Ruscha is a Pop Artist who has worked in many different mediums. Represented here were some works in pencil, oil, acrylic, gelatin silver prints, lithograph prints and even a few ‘odd medium’ pieces, works in Pepto, Caviar and Metrecal which was a weight loss beverage from the 60’s which he used to screen images of Hollywood, so there’s a bit of cynical social commentary in his work also.

Ad for Metrecal

One of the reasons this exhibit was special is that my wife’s dad used to collect art some years ago and had some lithographs  of Ruscha’s of which he only did a limited number of. Awhile ago he gave us one as a gift and he passed on another to my wife’s brother. The one we got was similar to this one titled ‘Time is UP’ (ours is in storage)

Time Is Up 1989 Edward Ruscha

The one her brother got we always just called ‘The Sign’. This one was represented in the show and there was an artist print titled ‘Untitled’

Ed Ruscha ‘Untitled’ 1989 litho

There were a few pieces related to this series that I’ll post below as well but it was cool to see this piece in a gallery when we’re so used to seeing it hanging in the background when we go visit my wife’s brother.

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I especially enjoyed the Hollywood stuff since I lived there for quite some time. I also enjoyed the ultra wide panoramic stuff, they really pull you in and give you a sense of that ‘American expanse’.

(The pics are all mine, so I apologize for the incidental selfie reflections in some of the pieces, there are pro images of this stuff online) I also didn’t catch all of the titles.

Untitled from Circus/Dwarf 1958

America’s Future 1979

Well, Well 1979

Two Similar Cities 1980

Home with Complete Electronic Security System 1982

There were these variations on an image of a gas station:

Standard Study #3 1962

Standard Study #3 1962

Standard Station Amarillo Texas 1963

Burning Gas Station 1965-66

Station 2003 (2003)

Roadmaster 2003

Ghost Station 2011

Enter a caption

150 Miles 1989

Untitled 1989

Enter a caption

Pahrump Signage 2003

Untitled 2004

Blank Sign #1-4

 

Pool #1-9 1997

The Fourteen Hundred 6753 Selma Avenue

Doheny Towers

Tool and Die 1993

Mufflers 1996

Tech Chem 1994

Telephone 1993

Blue Collar Tires 1992

The Old Tool And Die Building 2004

The Old Tool and Die Building 2004

Buffalo 1989

Asphalt Jungle 1991

Western 1991

Indian Study 1994-95

Coyote 1989

Coyote 1986

Hollywood

Sunset-Gardner Cross 1998-99

Hollywood Study #8 1968

House of Hollywood 1982-86

House of hollywood 1982-86

Hollywood in The Rain 1969

Hollywood 1969

Hollywood With Observatory 1969

The Back Of Hollywood 1977

Fruit-Metrecal Hollywood  1971

Pepto-Caviar Hollywood 1970

The Whisky 1966

Gazzarri’s 1966

Schwab’s Pharmacy 1976

Filthy McNasty’s 1976

Liquor Locker 1976

Most of the rest of the exhibit consisted of assorted typographical pieces

Tex 1990

Rustic Pines 1967

Enter a caption

Texas 1962

Adios 1969

The End 1991

The End #54 1994

The Final End 1991-92

The Absolute End 1982

For further research into the works of Ed Ruscha, check out this excellent resource via Artsy

Their Ed Ruscha page contains over 400 of his works as well as links to articles and gallery exhibitions.

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