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Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications Sheldon Museum of Art

1990

Barns and Farms

Christin J. Mamiya University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected]

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Mamiya, Christin J., "Barns and Farms" (1990). Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications. 11. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sheldonpubs/11

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EDWARD RUSCHA JUNE 5 - AUGUST 19, 1990 postmodernist appropriation. part because of its insistence the ubiquitous marquees and As a result of this elusive on figuration, in contrast to billboards, Ruscha's quality, his work has tended to the overwhelming of the and receive only cursory mention predominance of abstraction movie studio trademark reflect in general overviews of the art in preceding and concurrent the pervasiveness of historical chronology. movements such as Abstract language and how it is used Since his emergence on Expressionism, Post-Painterly to authenticate the the art scene in the early Abstraction, and Minimal art. contemporary post-industrial 1960s, Ruscha's work has Through its content, style, and experience. evolved and matured. presentation, blatantly During the 1960s, Ruscha However, the one consistent exposed the commodification produced numerous art works and most significant aspect of art and of our society in which, like Hollywood, throughout his work is the general, and Ruscha's incorporated images from this emphasis on the work as the paintings reinforced this. environment. For example, central focus of his art. An His works Hollywood his images of Standard gas understanding of Ruscha's (1963) and Trademark 2 stations are appropriate icons use of the word is critical to a (1962), for example, depict for a city like T he art of Ed Ruscha has comprehension of his oeuvre. quintessential icons of a which was the first major been a consistent and Moreover, his emphasis on society infatuated with urban area to be designed important presence on the art the verbal is crucial because it celebrity and conspicuous around a freeway system. scene since 1960. Yet his illustrates important issues in consumption. Ruscha has Other paintings are replete works have not received the the art world during the past gone beyond simply with references to mass high visibility media coverage three decades. Ed Ruscha's incorporating the words media such as comic books, that the work of many of his works are thus incisive in their "Hollywood" and "20th newspapers and peers, such as ability to lay bare critical Century Fox", but has chosen advertisements. and , have aspects of art production and, to present them in That Ruscha's works of garnered. This situation can, reception, and it is this added immediately identifiable the late 1960s intersect with in part, be attributed to the dimension that lends greater forms--those of the sign high Pop art and focus on words fact that contemporary art import to his art. in the Hollywood Hills and the and images that call to mind criticism has tended to center In the early years of his logo of a well known the breezy, glitzy consumer around clearly defined career, Ruscha's paintings Hollywood studio. In so orientation of Los Angeles is movements, and Ruscha's were closely associated with doing, Ruscha directs our not surprising. Although he work has resisted easy the Pop art movement of attention to a contemporary was born in Omaha and raised categorization. In addition, the1960s because of their environment (as exemplified in , Ruscha interpretations of his work focus on images from the by Los Angeles) in which moved to Los Angeles shortly have shifted over the past few contemporary urban, value is determined by after graduation from high decades--his work has been consumer-oriented surface appearance, market school in 1956. He made this cited in discussions of Pop art, environment. Pop was a value, and effective decision because, in his words, and, most pivotal movement in the advertising strategies. Like "California seemed the most recently, strategies of historical continuum of art in the words emblazoned across natural place to go. I suppose because of the media images we had seen, California had more appeal."1 This statement reveals the extent to which Ruscha was drawn to the glitter and "laid back" image of California that the media had cultivated, and indicates Ruscha's awareness of the power of the media. In the 1970s, Ruscha began to focus on isolated words on the canvas, rather than invoking words as an integral part of a specific product or symbol. His works of this period are appropriate illustrations of many of the conceptual issues with which artists at the time were grappling. These paintings ~ HOllYWOOD, 1968, colored serigraph, 17 518 x 44 3/8 in.

Edward Ruscha was born in Omaha. Nebraska in 1937 and moved to Oklahoma City at a young age where porary Art, Los Angeles, Among his earliest were he was raised and became 1983. In 1987, "Made in three consecutive shows at interested in art at the age of U.S.A.: An American­ the Ferus Art Gallery, Los ten. After finishing high ization in , the Angeles (1963, '64, '65) and school, he moved to Los '50s and '60s", University a history of almost yearly Angeles where he attended Art Museum, University of shows (1974-1989) at the . California, Berkeley. In Gallery, New Since graduating from 1989 he was involved in York. Additional shows Chouinard in 1960, Ruscha "LA. Pop in the Sixties", include "The Works of has become an inter­ Newport Harbor Museum, Edward Ruscha", San nationally successful and Newport Beach, California Francisco Museum of prolific artist, participating in Ruscha has also partici­ Modern Art. On the over 300 exhibitions. He pated in many international occasion of this show which Ed Ruscha has also made two movies, group exhibitions. Some of toured nationally, the book in his studio. "Premium" (1969) and these are: "18th Salon of I Don't Want No Photograph by "Miracle" (1976), and Young Painters", Musee Retrospective was Jerry Fredrick. published a number of d'Art Moderne de la Ville de published. It is a compil­ books. He still resides in Paris,l967. In Brazil, that ation of Ruscha's work up Los Angeles where his same year, "Sao Paulo 9", to 1982. studio is located. Museu de Arte Moderna, His most recent one­ Group exhibitions in the Sao Paulo. In 1969, he person shows include: "Ed include "Pop participated in the 35th Ruscha/Selection of Art U.S.A." held at the Biennale Exposizione Graphic Works 1970-1982", Oakland Art Museum, Internazionale d'Arte Cirrus Editions, Ltd., Los California, 1963; "American Venezia in Venice, Italy and Angeles, 1983; Galleria del 1927-1977", in 1971 at the Hayward Cavallino, Venice, Italy, Minnesota Museum of Ar~ Gallery in London his work 1983; "4 x 6", Westfalischer Saint Paul, 1977; also in was exhibited in the show Kunstverein, Munster, West 1977, "The Dada/Surrealist "11 Los Angeles Artists". Germany, 1986; Robert Heritage", held at the His recent international Miller Gallery, San Francine Clark Art Institute, shows include: "Cinquante Francisco, 1987; "Edward Williamstown, Mass­ ans de Dessins Americains Ruscha: Recent Paintings", achusetts. In 1978, "Mirrors 1930-1980", l'Ecole Museum of Contemporary and Windows: American Nationale Superieure des Art, Chicago, 1988; "Words since 1960" Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1985; Without Thoughts Never to was given by the Museum of "Hom mage a Leo Castelli", Heaven Go", Lannan Modern Art, New York and Galerie Daniel Templon, Museum, Lake Worth, also that year, "Words and Paris, 1987; "Changing Florida, 1988; Tokyo Images" organized by the Group Exhibition", Carsten Museum of Contemporary Renaissance Society at the Schubert Ltd., London, Art, Tokyo, Japan, 1989. University of Chicago. 1988; "Sigmund Freud Other group exhibitions Heute", Thaddaeus Ropac, include: "Language, Drama, Salzburg, Austria, 1989. Source and Vision" at the Ruscha's solo exhibitions New Museum of Contem- number over one hundred. • explored the relationship between the word and image, or the verbal and visual. Both aesthetics and linguistics are systems that involve underlying structures that condition how we communicate, and how we understand the world around us. By excerpting words from their recognizable contexts, Ruscha forces us to examine our preconceptions about language, visual images, and, ultimately, about the way in which we view the world. The formal aspects of visual art are addressed by the way in which Ruscha, during the 1970s, abstracted words from any grammatical contexts. By presenting CRACKERJACK, 1967, graphite on paper, 15 x 23112 in. single words or short phrases on the expansive canvas or liquid medium. Works such reminiscent of the sublime constituted "chairness." paper, he forces the viewer to as Eye (1969) force the landscapes of the Hudson Given that our society is focus on the formal qualities spectator to examine each River School painters of the language-oriented, and that, of the letter formation and on word as a unique entity, late 19th century, coupled with anthropologically-speaking, the tension between the flat divorced from any meaning or the large white words "Barns naming has the authority to two dimensionality of the signifying properties. The and Farms" emblazoned confer identity on an object or lettering and the suggestion of word simply becomes a visual across the canvas, suggests a person, these art works space behind each word. pattern, lyrical in its curves, certain nostalgia and longing address the mechanisms of Like credits on a movie loops and linear elements. for a simple and rapidly how we acquire knowledge screen (a familiar format, The random sprinkling of disappearing lifestyle. Given and how images and objects given the popularity of motion illusionistically painted beans Ruscha's roots in Nebraska, acquire significance. pictures), these works that interrupt the puddle­ this can also be Ruscha's work can be seen in challenge our perception of formed word only reinforce interpreted as a personal this same light. plane and space. the perception of the image memory of surroundings that Ruscha elaborated on The issue of two as visual entity rather than he left behind years ago. these ideas in other ways. He dimensionality vs. three linguistic signifier. In other works, words produced a series of books, dimensionality is addressed in Despite this emphatic stand alone, without the which simply by dint of their works such as Crackerjack visual quality that is a benefit of further elucidation format, call to mind the (1977). Ruscha has written hallmark of Ruscha's work, his that the background imagery linguistic basis for the the word in a quivering ribbon art also presents challenges can provide. These paintings transmission of knowledge in which floats in an undefined on the conceptual level. have been related to works of our society. Yet Ruscha, as space. Because of its three Ruscha's commitment to the Conceptual artists such as in his other works, incisively dimensional presence, the written word necessarily elicits Joseph Kosuth and John questions this by subverting word achieves a more questions regarding content Baldessari. These artists our expectations. Inside substantial physicality than and meaning. In many of his incorporated words into their these artist's books are not one would normally associate paintings, a conflict surfaces art as a means of encouraging words, but printed images and with the printed word. As between the visual image, vie-wers to consider the ways photographs. signs or signifiers, words are which is the primary conveyor in which meaning is derived. This focus on the book rarely scrutinized for their of meaning in conventional For example, in one work, was one which he had visual appearance. Here, that painting, and the word, which entitled One and Three explored earlier. In the aspect--their formal presence­ is the primary conveyor of Chairs, Kosuth juxtaposed 1950s, Ruscha had -predominates. meaning in the linguistic three depictions of a chair--a investigated the relationship This physical presence is arena. In works such as dictionary definition of the between book and painting by reiterated in other works, such Barns and Farms (1983), the word chair printed on a applying pigment to the as a series of paintings done two elements complement placard, a photograph of a covers of hardbound books. in the late 1960s, in which and enhance the total impact. chair, and a real chair. In addition, he proposed the Ruscha presented the word The lushness of the Clearly, this forced viewers to notion of canvases as books; as if it were written with a panoramic landscape, examine their ideas of what in order to make the analogy, he did paintings in which he works, so at first glance, the English type set. intriguing blend of the playful painted the titles of the works prints seem to deal solely with In recent years, Ruscha's and the serious. His works along the edge of the canvas, Ruscha's interest in the visual work has been associated incorporate both amusing as one would find them on the and conceptual aspects of with that of postmodernist visual images and witty puns, spines of books. words. The words all rhyme, artists such as along with profound In the 1970s, in an which speaks to the aural and , who challenges to our attempt to create works that quality of language. States aggressively utilize words-- understanding of art and were even more conceptually Ruscha: "It's awful you see particularly slogans and language. Despite the fact cohesive, Ruscha extended just to say it; the full six words advertising copy--to comment that his work cannot be easily his experimentation to the that is. It has a corny and on our consumer oriented and categorized in the long materials he used-specifically, irritating sound to it. gender delineated society. procession of art historical the inks he utilized in the Language gets into my The very act of appropriation, movements of recent years, it production of his prints. work."2 In addition, the words or excerpting the words, and is clear that Ruscha, through Through his use of ground are all related to England, presenting them in an art his explorations into the way foodstuffs as his printing ink in which is where Ruscha work for public contemplation in which images and words series such as News, Mews, produced this series. For represents a carefully are endowed with meaning Pews, Brews, Stews & Dues, instance, Ruscha explains: considered strategy to and the way in which meaning Ruscha added another "England's the only country increase the viewer's is transmitted, has touched on conceptual component to his that has "Mews"; and it also awareness of an environment the very nature of how we imagery. By selecting items sounds very English."3 that makes such understand the world around such as caviar and Despite Ruscha's overwhelming demands on us. blackcurrant pie filling, demonstrated interest in our sensory capabilities that Ruscha endows the prints conceptual problems, the more often than not, we CHRISTIN J. MAMIYA with an additional formal visual aspects are never sleepwalk through it and Assistant Professor variable, thereby presenting relegated to secondary status; subconsciously absorb the UNL Department of Art & Art History more challenging works. Ruscha is just as concerned vacuous value system that Stews, for example, is literally with how the image looks. such an environment 1Patricia Failing, "Ed Ruscha, Young a hodgepodge, or stew, of Not only did he spend weeks promotes. Ruscha's recent Artist: Dead Serious About Being materials--from baked beans experimenting with different productions, such as his Nonsensical," Artnews, vol. 81, no. 4 (April 1982), p.77. and fresh strawberries to foodstuffs for use in printing, painting series Words Without mango chutney and daffodils. but even the lettering was Thought Never to Heaven Go 2Christopher Fix, "Talking to Edward Ruscha: News, Mews, Pews, Brews, The edible components of carefully considered. In line (1985-87), can be seen in this Stews & Dues (London: Editions these prints are not visually with the Anglophilic flavor of light. Alecto, 1970). identifiable in the finished this series, Ruscha chose Old Ruscha's works are an 31bid

STANDARD STATION, AMARILLO TEXAS, 1963. ( Not in the exhibition.) Illustration courtesy of Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire Checklist PIC, PAN AND SHOVEL, 1980, color lithograph, 22114 x 30 in. 1. NEWS 11. EYE 1970, organic screenprint 1969, oil on canvas 177/8 x 26 15/16 in. 61 1/2 x 55 in. UNL-F.M. Hall Collection Collection of the Oakland Museum 1987.H-2865.1 Gift of the Art Guild and the National Endowment for the Arts 2. MEWS 1970, organic screenprint 12. TRADEMARK 2 177/8 x 17 in. 1962, ink, pencil and oil on UNL-F.M. Hall Collection paper 1987.H-2865.2 85/16 x 141/2 in. San Francisco Museum 3. PEWS of Modern Art 1970, organic screenprint Purchased through a gift of Dr. & 177/8 x 26 7/8 in. Mrs. Allan Roos, 81 .99 UNL-F.M. Hall Collection 1987.H-2865.3 13. MADE IN CALIFORNIA 1971, silkscreen 4. BREWS 29 x 20 1/2 in. 1970, organic screenprint Courtesy of Dorry Gates 8 314 x 22 1/4 in. UNL-F.M. Hall Collection 14. THIRTY-FOUR PARKING 1987.H-2865.4 LOTS IN LOS ANGELES 1967, book/photographs 5. STEWS 10 x 8 x 10 in. 1970, organic screenprint UNL-Gift of Bob and Roberta 73/4 x 21 7/16 in. Rogers Sheldon Solo is an The Sheldon Solo UNL-F.M. Hall Collection 1981.U-3547 ongoing series of one series is supported by a 1987.H-2865.5 person exhibitions by grant from the National 15. VARIOUS SMALL FIRES nationally recognized 6. DUES AND MILK Endowment for the Arts. 1970, organic screenprint 1964, book/photographs contemporary artists. Additional funding has 177/8 x 2615116 in. 7 x 5 1/2 x 7 in. As a museum of bee n provided by the UNL-F.M. Hall Collection UNL-Gift of Bob and Roberta twentieth century Nebraska Art Association 1987.H-2865.6 Rogers American art, the and the Nebraska Arts 1981.U-3544 7. PIC, PAN AND SHOVEL Sheldon Memorial Art Council through a Year­ 1980, color lithograph 16. EVERY BUILDING ON Gallery recognizes its Long Program Grant. 221/4 x 30 in. THE responsibility to UNL-Gift of Roberta & Herbert 1966, book/photographs present both a Belkin 7 x 5 3/4 x 7 in. historical perspective 1985.U-3763 UNL-Gift of Bob and Roberta Rogers and the art of our 8. BARNS AND FARMS 1981 .U-3546 time. Each Sheldon 1983, oil on canvas Solo exhibition 641/4 64 1/8 in. x assesses the work of NAA-Funded by NEA Purchase Grant Award, the NAA an artist who is Acquisitions Committee, the contributing to the Collectors' Forum, Mr. Gene spectrum of Tallman and Mr. Harold Stebbins American art, and 1989.N-695 (cover image) provides an important 9. CRACKERJACK forum for the 1967, graphite on paper understanding of 15 x 231/2 in. contemporary art Courtesy of the Joslyn Art issues. Museum Museum purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts matched by a donation from the Joslyn Women's Association, 1977.67

10. HOLLYWOOD 1968, colored serigraph 175/8 x 44 3/8 in. Collection of the Oakland Museum 000111000 The Oakland Museum Founders SHELDON MEMORIAL ART GALLERY Fund THE NEBRASKA ART ASSOCIATION UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA- LINCOLN 12TH AND R STREET. LI NCOLN. NEBRASKA 68588-0300