Edward Ruscha
Edward Ruscha
Edward Joseph Ruscha IVis an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. Ruscha lives and works in Culver City, California...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPop Artist
Date of Birth16 December 1937
CityOmaha, NE
CountryUnited States of America
cities people mind
I'd read about Los Angeles and this fact stuck in my mind: that the city gained 1,000 new people every day. In 1956! A thousand people every day! I felt: 'I want to be part of that.
real cities heaven
I was attracted to the concept of Hollywood and the lifestyle here. But I've grown to mistrust it because it has changed. I didn't bargain for digital access parking in some concrete structure. Real heaven for me was to drive somewhere and park right in front. Now the city is going vertical.
check draw helps manage taking
When I drive, I check out everything I see, and just taking in all those observations helps me think. So I draw and write a lot as I drive, and I know that's dangerous, but I manage to do it off to the side, with my notes on the seat.
art artist gain gallery living notion occasions rare respect shred sold work
The big pay-off was to work as an artist and gain some shred of respect from your friends, who were also artists. But there was never any notion that you could make a living out of art. On the rare occasions you had a gallery show, and sold a little work, well, that was just gravy.
believe intuition want
I believe in intuition and approaching things as instant gratification. Just do the things you want to do, make the kind of pictures you want to make.
taken california knowing
I'm very stodgy. I'm always looking at old photos of California and Los Angeles, knowing that what I'm looking at is now full of houses. There used to be vacant lots in Los Angeles, now all taken up by three-storey boxes - it's all getting infilled.
paris romance london
I wasn't captivated by the romance of Paris or London. I love visiting, but I'd rather be in L.A.
believe people starbucks
People refuse to believe that I've never been to Starbucks or Disneyland.
new-york anxiety would-be
Perhaps there would be more anxiety in my work if I lived in New York.
artist survival streets
Most artists are doing basically the same thing - staying off the streets.
flower boss utterance
When I began painting, all my paintings were of words which were gutteral utterances like Smash, Boss, Eat. Those words were like flowers in a vase.
book interesting matter
My pictures are not that interesting, nor the subject matter. They are simply a collection of facts; my book is more like a collection of Ready-mades.
photography artist facts
The fact that few painter-fine-artists used photography in their work made it appealing.
anxiety modern-life speed
The subject [of Los Angeles] became a general metaphor for anxiety and the speed of modern life.