RUSCHA, Ed - Various Small Books: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha

Background information

"In the 1960s and 1970s, the artist Ed RUSCHA created a series of small photo-conceptual artist's books, among them 'Twentysix Gas Stations', 'Various Small Fires, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots', 'Real Estate Opportunities', and 'A Few Palm Trees'. Featuring mundane subjects photographed prosaically, with idiosyncratically deadpan titles, these 'small books' were sought after, collected, and loved by Ed RUSCHA's fans and fellow artists. With his books, Ed RUSCHA expanded the artist's field of permissible subjects, approaches, and methods. Over the past thirty years, close to 100 other small books that appropriated or paid homage to Ed RUSCHA's have appeared throughout the world. 

Content

This book collects ninety-one of these projects, showcasing the cover and sample layouts from each along with a description of the work. It also includes selections from Ed RUSCHA's books and an appendix listing all known Ed RUSCHA book tributes. These small books revisit, imitate, honor, and parody Ed RUSCHA in form, content, and title. Some re-photograph his subjects: 'Thirtyfour Parking Lots', 'Forty Years Later'.Some offer a humorous variation: 'Various Unbaked Cookies' (which concludes, as did Ed RUSCHA's 'Various Small Fires', with a glass of milk), 'Twentynine Palms' (twenty-nine photographs of palm-readers' signs). Some say something different: 'None of the Buildings on Sunset Strip'. Some reach for a connection with Ed RUSCHA himself: '17 Parked Cars in Various Parking Lots Along Pacific Coast Highway Between My House and Ed Ruscha's'.
With 'Various Small Books', various artists pay tribute to Ed RUSCHA and extend the legacy of his books." (publisher's note, © M.I.T. Press, 2013)

About the American photo artist, Ed RUSCHA

Photo books by and on the work of Ed RUSCHA