Ed Ruscha at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Ed Ruscha was raised in Oklahoma City, saw Los Angeles for the first time at 14, returned as a student, and today is still one of the best chroniclers of American/Los Angeles life. Much of his work (paintings, prints, photographs, and drawings) is synonymous with L.A., capturing its sprawl, attitude, and urban design. This exhibit, part of the annual and encyclopedic Pacific Time series, presents his recognized photographs from the 1960’s – 70’s – gas stations, apartments, and shots of the Pacific Coast Highway – and maquettes and previously unpublished images. In a recent interview for The New Yorker, Ruscha noted that he didn’t consider photography as an art form – the gasoline station series, for instance, was originally conceived as a book and not as a collection of photographs. This exhibit affirms this idea – here, photography is a means and an end, a way to document and also to experiment.

Ed Ruscha, In Focus: Ed Ruscha, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, through 29 September 2013

All images courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum and The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

Edward Ruscha, 1018 S. Atlantic Blvd., 1965, gelatin silver print, In Focus: Ed Ruscha, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Edward Ruscha, Mock-up for “Every Building on the Sunset Strip,” In Focus: Ed Ruscha, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Edward Ruscha, Standard, Amarillo, Texas, 1962, gelatin silver print, In Focus: Ed Ruscha, J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles