Biography
Born in 1937 in Omaha, Nebraska, Edward Ruscha was raised in Oklahoma City where his family moved in 1941. In 1956 he moved to Los Angeles to attend the Chouinard Art Institute, and had his first solo exhibition in 1963 at the Ferus Gallery. He lives and works in Los Angeles, and currently shows with Gagosian Gallery.
Ed Ruscha’s photography, drawing, painting, and artist books record the shifting emblems of American life in the last half century. His deadpan representations of Hollywood logos, stylized gas stations, and archetypal landscapes distil the imagery of popular culture into a language of cinematic and typographical codes that are as accessible as they are profound.
Ruscha’s early career as a graphic artist continues to strongly influence his aesthetic and thematic approach. Ruscha was the United States representative at the 51st Venice Biennale and has been the subject of numerous museum retrospectives that have traveled internationally.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011 Ed Ruscha, Road Tested, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
2011 On the Road, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
2009 Ed Ruscha, Fifty Years of Painting, Hayward Gallery, London
2006 Jeu de Paume, Paris
2004 Whitney Museum of American Art
2004 the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney
2002 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia , Madrid