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| Ed Ruscha shows works spanning 50 years in Newcastle | Ed Ruscha shows works spanning 50 years in Newcastle |
| (4 months later) | |
| The veteran American pop artist Ed Ruscha is on something of a high at the moment. His work can be seen in the White House, and possibly also in Downing Street – President Obama recently gave David Cameron a Ruscha lithograph. His auction record was set a few years ago at $6.2m for his Burning Gas Station painting of 1965-66, and many of his works have made more than $1m. | The veteran American pop artist Ed Ruscha is on something of a high at the moment. His work can be seen in the White House, and possibly also in Downing Street – President Obama recently gave David Cameron a Ruscha lithograph. His auction record was set a few years ago at $6.2m for his Burning Gas Station painting of 1965-66, and many of his works have made more than $1m. |
| Although it doesn't bill itself as such, the exhibition at the Hatton Gallery is effectively a retrospective of Ruscha's work, with 63 pieces dating from between 1961 and 2010, and including oils, acrylics, etchings, photographs, pastels, mixed media works, lithographs and silkscreens, as well as prints using the patented "mixografia" technique. | Although it doesn't bill itself as such, the exhibition at the Hatton Gallery is effectively a retrospective of Ruscha's work, with 63 pieces dating from between 1961 and 2010, and including oils, acrylics, etchings, photographs, pastels, mixed media works, lithographs and silkscreens, as well as prints using the patented "mixografia" technique. |
| Ruscha, who was born in Omaha in 1937 and brought up in Oklahoma, claims his move to Los Angeles at the age of 19 was partly inspired by Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. He has been based in California for over 50 years, and the area has inspired much of his work. In some cases the inspiration is direct and obvious, as with Dec 30th of 2005, where the partially blurred acrylic letters spelling the word "Hollywood" recede across the paper, and sometime less obvious but it's usually there somewhere. | Ruscha, who was born in Omaha in 1937 and brought up in Oklahoma, claims his move to Los Angeles at the age of 19 was partly inspired by Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. He has been based in California for over 50 years, and the area has inspired much of his work. In some cases the inspiration is direct and obvious, as with Dec 30th of 2005, where the partially blurred acrylic letters spelling the word "Hollywood" recede across the paper, and sometime less obvious but it's usually there somewhere. |
| The artist has said | The artist has said |
| There are no rules for looking at my paintings… There's just no right or wrong way to approach my work, each viewer will have his or her own associations anyway. And that's the way it should be. | There are no rules for looking at my paintings… There's just no right or wrong way to approach my work, each viewer will have his or her own associations anyway. And that's the way it should be. |
| Ruscha has found interest in the mundane, and treated words as subjects - subjects as worthy of being painted as landscape or still life. A recurring theme is an enigmatic play on words overlaying landscape, often using a simple, unserifed typeface that looks familiar but is in fact the artist's own invention. He calls it Boy Scout Utility Modern, and it is apparently based on the giant "Hollywood" sign, but is usually called the Ed Ruscha font. In some cases giant words are juxtaposed with dramatic landscapes, as in Daily Planet of 2003, with the name of Superman's newspaper overlaying a high mountain summit. Pay Nothing Until April also has the words set against a range of snowy mountains. As is usual with his works, there are no human figures to be seen - he has said: | Ruscha has found interest in the mundane, and treated words as subjects - subjects as worthy of being painted as landscape or still life. A recurring theme is an enigmatic play on words overlaying landscape, often using a simple, unserifed typeface that looks familiar but is in fact the artist's own invention. He calls it Boy Scout Utility Modern, and it is apparently based on the giant "Hollywood" sign, but is usually called the Ed Ruscha font. In some cases giant words are juxtaposed with dramatic landscapes, as in Daily Planet of 2003, with the name of Superman's newspaper overlaying a high mountain summit. Pay Nothing Until April also has the words set against a range of snowy mountains. As is usual with his works, there are no human figures to be seen - he has said: |
| I've avoided having people in the pictures in all my books, because they are not the subject. Very distracting | I've avoided having people in the pictures in all my books, because they are not the subject. Very distracting |
| The Final End, of 1992, is the largest work in the exhibition, greeting people as they enter the gallery – a huge canvas 12 foot long and nearly six high with the partially obscured words "The End" in gothic letters, this time on a largely blank background. | The Final End, of 1992, is the largest work in the exhibition, greeting people as they enter the gallery – a huge canvas 12 foot long and nearly six high with the partially obscured words "The End" in gothic letters, this time on a largely blank background. |
| A series of lithographs from the mid 80s comes from the period when the artist wanted to make "something smoky and difficult to see". Dog and US date from this period - the former includes a clearly identifiable silhouette of a pointer, but is semi-abstract at the same time. | A series of lithographs from the mid 80s comes from the period when the artist wanted to make "something smoky and difficult to see". Dog and US date from this period - the former includes a clearly identifiable silhouette of a pointer, but is semi-abstract at the same time. |
| It is appropriate that Ruscha should show in the Hatton Gallery, as Pop Art was arguably born there in 1955. Richard Hamilton was a lecturer at Newcastle University when he showed his Man, Machine and Motion installation, generally accepted as one of the opening works of what became the Pop Art movement, at the Hatton in May 1955. It was shown at the ICA in London later that year. | It is appropriate that Ruscha should show in the Hatton Gallery, as Pop Art was arguably born there in 1955. Richard Hamilton was a lecturer at Newcastle University when he showed his Man, Machine and Motion installation, generally accepted as one of the opening works of what became the Pop Art movement, at the Hatton in May 1955. It was shown at the ICA in London later that year. |
| Ed Ruscha - Artist Rooms on Tour is on show at the Hatton Gallery until May 22. | Ed Ruscha - Artist Rooms on Tour is on show at the Hatton Gallery until May 22. |
| Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's roving arts specialist and a sheep farmer in the high Pennines. He Tweets here. | Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's roving arts specialist and a sheep farmer in the high Pennines. He Tweets here. |
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