Ed Ruscha: OKLA

Ed Ruscha's first solo exhibition in his home state, this catalogue examines the ways in which Oklahoma's culture and history continues to impact the artist's work. The exhibition approaches over 70 works spanning six decades across five major themes: "Oklahoma OK" includes works related to his childhood home, "51% Angel, 49% Devil" casts light on his Catholic upbringing, "Pop Origins" focuses on the popular culture of his youth, including movies, comic strips, slang and advertising,...
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Ed Ruscha's first solo exhibition in his home state, this catalogue examines the ways in which Oklahoma's culture and history continues to impact the artist's work. The exhibition approaches over 70 works spanning six decades across five major themes: "Oklahoma OK" includes works related to his childhood home, "51% Angel, 49% Devil" casts light on his Catholic upbringing, "Pop Origins" focuses on the popular culture of his youth, including movies, comic strips, slang and advertising, "Route 66" chronicles his observations about driving, car culture and the myths of the road, and "Made in U.S.A." examines his views of American history, identity and industry.Iconic American artist Ed Ruscha has, over the past six decades, produced a diverse and highly influential body of work encompassing paintings, drawings, prints, books, photographs and films. The Western United States is a primary subject for his work, from his frequent evocations of the Los Angeles urban landscape to his meditations on the open road. Lore has likewise developed about his life, from his having heeded the call to "Go West, young man," moving to California in the 1950s, to his current status as the unofficial artist laureate of Los Angeles. Yet such narratives overlook a crucial fact of Ruscha's biography: that he went West to L.A. from someplace else, and that place was Oklahoma City, where he grew up. Ruscha's Los Angeles is not that of a native Angeleno but of a transplant, an observer of the city who, even after all these years, retains traces of the outsider looking in. Ruscha's Oklahoma is his place of origin.The exhibition was co-curated by Alexandra Schwartz, a New York-based independent curator who has written extensively about Ruscha's work, and Oklahoma Contemporary in close coordination with the artist and his studio.