1984

Edward Ruscha

1970

Gunpowder and pastel on paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Ed Ruscha has always been fascinated with language. Inspired by Jasper Johns's austere numerals and targets, he set out to transform text and cultural icons into high art. In 1967, he began making his paper ribbon drawings, which characteristically feature isolated words as objects set in three-dimensional space. He portrayed his subjects in a precisely rendered trompe l'oeil manner, relying on various drawing mediums, cotton swabs, and the palm of his hand to draw the subtle tonal gradations needed to establish the highly illusionistic effects he desired. Rushca maintained that he chose words for their appearance, sound, or spellin