Elemental
"Air, Water, Fire" (detail). cover image from Graphic Works by Ed Ruscha, 1978
I’ve been going through my things and throwing most of them away. It seems like I’ve done this every summer for the last four years—each year, I reduce the bulk by about half. You’d think that eventually I’d have nothing, but it doesn’t work that way. I collect things at an amazing rate. I’m never sure if I’m gaining or losing in the battle of the bulk.
I didn’t realize that Ed Ruscha’s critical stock had risen in the last few years. His influence on me came really early, circa 1977. My mentor at Bakersfield Community College, Harry Wilson, kept the reserve-reading section of the library stocked with Ruscha’s (then quite inexpensive) bookworks. I’d sit in there and marvel over them. I think Twenty-six Gasoline Stations was my favorite; it sort of set the tone for most of my attempts at photography in the late 70s / early 80s. I acquired my first (and for the longest time, only) book about him—the exhibition catalog I’ve been quoting from—somewhere around 1985. I had no idea that there were several books issued in the last few years (I’ve ordered a few new ones), let alone an entire issue of October (Winter 2005) dedicated to him. I thought I was onto something, but it seems I’m behind the curve (typical).
But I remember this book fondly as part of a wonderful purge/binge. A local bookstore had purchased an estate’s art books. I was broke (typical) and decided that it was time to improve the quality of my book collection. I grabbed every book in my house that wasn’t absolutely essential (mostly how-tos and sci-fi novels) and traded them in for more interesting art titles. Thus, I reduced my bulk, while beefing up on food. It was a win-win. I’m not so sure that this is what’s happening now, but I hope it’s something like that.
On the visibility and viability of labels
From Ray Davis:
For the sake of argument, and to judge all others by myself, I’ll admit that people who don’t explicitly theorize are working on the basis of latent or unarticulated, unreflective or implicit theory.
And with my admission, I'll affirm there are worst crimes than letting theory remain latent and unarticulated. Something has to. Just because we found our writing on a theory doesn’t mean the theory’s worth writing about.
It’s like a badge of honor to sever allegiance to explicit theory to just write about the thing itself. But it also seems like a cheat to those attempting to learn from the work. Although the price-tag of theory is skyrocketing, theoretical tags underwrite any form of critical thinking. Do they disappear if we tear them off?
There’s a different and unrelated perspective from Tom Matrullo:
June 26, 2006 2:05 AM | Comments (2)
Crackers
Lithograph by Ed Ruscha ,1970
It seems to me that there is an intrinsic connection between art and comedy, but I never realized that Ed Ruscha and Mason Williams, the head writer for the Smothers Brothers Show, were collaborators. I never really got the joke of Williams’ “Classical Gas”—they played it on the radio incessantly when I was growing up. Ruscha and Williams cooked up some weird stuff:
Stains
A folio of prints
Some thoughts from/about Ed Ruscha have gotten stuck in my head from the preface of Graphic Works by Edward Ruscha, written by Henry Geldzahler on the occasion of an exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand in 1978:
