RUSCHA’S WORK IS WARM,
EVEN EDGING DANGEROUSLY
CLOSE TO ROMANTIC
Joy 0 text
ED RUSCHA takes in gas stations, parking lots, mountains and words — big, beautiful words. Jack Mottram explores the Route 66 of this elusive artist.
t‘s hard to get a hatidle on lid Rtischa. You could call him l’op. hut he ohseiwes and appreciates American iconography \iithout simpl} appropriating and elexating the familiar. llis use of text. ol‘ten set in his nun cool and calculated Bo} Scout l'tilit} Modern
t_\pel‘ace. calls to mind the high conceptualism of
laurence \Viener. hut Rtischa snatches phrases from dreams and signs. instead of ttsing words in a i‘r'r/iu'lio ml u/Miin/imi ot‘ sculptural t'orm. Ruscha. too. has been a multimedia artist making hooks. lilms. graphics and prints as \\ ell as paintings long het‘ore the term had its hi'iet‘ moment iii \ogue. lle sidestcps. \\ ithout an) effort. attempts to categorise his \sork.
So. \\li'.tt docs the sttll‘l. look like'.’ .\ltl\ll}. it looks like \iords. 'lloiik‘ sa_\s one painting. curtl). in flaming \Vcstcrn t_\pc. 'lloll_\\\ood 'l‘antrum‘ sa)s another. drowned in electric pink. ‘l’a) Nothing l'ntil Aprik shouts a third. reducing the mountain behind the mails to just another desirahle ohject a\ailahle on the HP.
'l'hcse e\ocatixe gohhets ot‘ te\t are at once a means ol‘
direct communication with Rtischa there is rarel_\ a need to piix/le o\‘er an image. \\ hen he‘s shouting a simple phrase - but his Use of language is also a conti'ar} one. The \\‘Ut'd_\ in a Rtischa painting or draning ha\e meaning. just like all \iords. but the} are also ohiects. shapes to he represented. just like gas station t‘oi'ecourts. mountain ranges. or the roadside \‘ieu from Route be. This is e\plicit in \\'ot'ks \\ here \i'ords are rendered as suggesthe rihhon} forms. but holds true e\en \\ hen a camas contains nothing but stark t}pograph_\. (\Hh'c‘l'sc‘l}. \ihile Ruscha has said that he likes ‘the
idea of a \xord becoming a picture. almost lea\ing its hod). then coming hack and becoming a “on! again‘. he also l‘oi'ges a language out of images. iii his little hooks \\llli titlcs such as TNT/HA" Sit (iuwlim' Slit/ions. oi' 'I'III'I'I'Y I‘illll' l’ur/sinc' I.ul\. 'l'hcsc t'c\ cl in sameness. turning multiple images into s}mhols and signs. a \'l\tlttl language that contines itself. to describing the American West. It. all this sounds rather dr) and. uell. \sord}. nothing could he further from the truth. Ruscha's xxork is \thl’lll. e\cn edging dangeroust close to the sentimental at times. and romantic. though stil‘t'icientl} selli-auat'c to axoid lapsing into aii_\thing approaching Patti'oitism. or hlind celebration of American-ness. And thank goodness for that.
It might he a short-sighted reading of his \Hil'l's. but this o\ei'\ ie\\ of Rtlscltil\ career is timel} here is America as \\e in Old liurope once understood it. lull of signs that promise e\crything. like the llolhuood sign Riischa often returns to. The last \iork's on \li()\\ in the National (iallet'} of Modern Art. a \\ hole \\ all of them. are representations of the final scratched celluloid frames of unknoun tilms. all intoning [\H) \\t)l'tl\2 'l‘hc lind. It‘s a neat quip to close a show and. since Rtischa is fast approaching three score _\ears and ten. an amhixalent nod in the direction of. death. But here it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that. once you'te seen and read Rtischa‘s America. he \sill bring about The lind. uniting the \ ie\\ er \\ ith the States.
Ed Ruscha, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, until Sun 16 Jan 0000
Visual Art Ilit >l<
THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
=2: Avant Garde Graphics 1918-34 Make sure you don‘t miss this brilliant show in its final week. Russian and German graphic design met the challenges of radical times and raised them one. Way before Ed Ruscha fell in love Willi text and image. these designers were pioneering the artform With bravery. Wll and paSSion. Hunter/an Art Gallery. Glasgow. until Sat 27 Nov.
2:: Ed Ruscha Do believe the hype, really, really do. The west coast American who started off making little books about gas stations and parking lots before movrng onto Cinematic landscapes With words has tapped the highway for inspiration all his life. See review. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Edinburgh, until Sun 76 Jan.
:1: Age of Titian The show that first uncovered its fleshy hues in the summer is about to wrap up for the winter, so if you haven't gone yet it's worth seeing this collection of works from Titian‘s era; a time when Oil paints were revolutionising the potential of artists to render skin, fabrics. textures with new-found lustre. National Gallery of Scotland. Royal Academy Building, Edinburgh, until Sun 5 Dec.
:E= Torsten Lauschmann A weird and wonderful compendium of Lauschmann's own video works. wall painting and scwptural objects together with film screenings including The Turkish Wizard of 02 (Fri 19 Nov) and Samuel Beckett's Film featuring live music by Duncan Marques (Sat 4 Dec). Transmission Gallery, Glasgow. until Sat 4 Dec
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