Ed Ruscha at Gagosian Gallery, via Art Observed

Few artists have left the sort of impact Ed Ruscha has left on the field of small-press and art book publishing over the course of their career.  Ruscha, whose almost constant output of small books of photography, prints and other printed matter, has consistently redefined both the material and conceptual practice of book manufacturing since the 1960’s.  His early pieces in this medium, executed during the 1960’s and 70’s, helped to redefine its practice, shifting the artist’s book from a limited-edition, rare item, to a mass-produced and widely distributed object that was seen as a step towards the democratization of art through its scalable production.

Ed Ruscha at Gagosian Gallery, via Art Observed

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A non-profit group in Palm Springs is preparing to open a new art fair, coinciding with the proceedings of the Coachella music festival.  The fair has hired Neville Wakefield as its first artistic director, and has Ed Ruscha as a member of its board.   (more…)

Artist Ed Ruscha has donated a collection of 18 new print works to the collection of the Tate Modern, and has promised to continue donating works from new series moving forward. “This is a rare and generous commitment, not to mention a wonderful Christmas present to the whole nation,” says the Tate’s Nicholas Serota. “These works on paper will be a wonderful resource for future exhbitions here in the UK.” (more…)

Sara Friedlander

RxArt‘s annual benefit gala took place Tuesday night at Stephan Weiss Studios in the West Village, honoring Swiss artist Urs Fischer. The ceiling was decked out in colorful elephant mobiles designed by the artist, tying into RxArt’s mission of transforming the often sterile halls of children’s healthcare facilities and hospitals into engaging visual environments for young patients.

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The Financial Times profiles Ed Ruscha this week, as the artist opens a new show at Sprüth Magers in Berlin.  “Things that catch my attention are things that are usually negligible or forgotten, or overlooked or denigrated in some way or another,” he says. (more…)

Artist Ed Ruscha is on this Times’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people this year, recognizing the artist’s highly influential conceptual practice and ongoing contributions to contemporary American art.  “Even if Ruscha never met a word he couldn’t unsettle, let’s hang on to the one we need sometimes to describe him: genius.” Writes Time art critic Richard Lacayo. (more…)

LA Art Show (2013), Installation View

The LA Art show held its opening night premier party on Wednesday, January 23rd at the LA Convention Center. During the Patron Hours, James Franco was the guest of honor and was joined by an eclectic LA crowd, with an incredible mix ranging from the overtly contemporary to the traditionally elegant. Entering its 18th year, the fair has earned a reputation for its well planned juxtaposition of traditional and modern art, and this year’s edition was no different.  The milling crowd moved easily from the traditional to contemporary sections and back, taking their time to comb through the sheer scale of the festival and its one hundred prominent worldwide galleries.

LA Art Show (2013), Installation View

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Ed Ruscha, I’m Amazed (1971),via Bernard Jacobson

This January, Bernard Jacobson Gallery is home to Ed Ruscha’s I’m Amazed collection, which presents some of the artist’s most abstract works.  Known for his treatment of text as objects, the titles of Ruscha’s images become the works themselves. Single words are juxtaposed against simplistic images (i.e. gas stations or landscapes) while others dominate the work completely. His statements, or individual words, become ambiguous against their backdrop. The title of show is adopted from a work that reads ‘I’m Amazed’ in faint grey print,engulfed by a swarm of flies to the point of illegibility. The laconic effect of such imagery sufficiently summarizes the collection and sets the sombre and subdued atmosphere of the show.

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As part of LACMA’s tribute to Ed Ruscha at their Art+Film gala this year (the artist also has an exhibition on view), filmmaker Lance Acord created a short film entitled “Ed Ruscha, Woody, and the World’s Hottest Pepper”, produced by Park Pictures and LACMA.  Watch the film via LACMA

All photos taken on site by Aniko Berman

On Monday, September 24, Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl, the New York gallery for the famed Los Angeles print workshop, hosted its Artists for Obama event celebrating the Artists for Obama 2012 limited edition portfolio created and sold to support Obama’s reelection efforts. For the campaign, 19 artists have come together to create a portfolio of limited edition prints, with all proceeds going to the Obama Victory Fund. Of the 150 examples, 60 have already sold at $28,000 each; at the end of the project, Gemini G.E.L. hopes to raise 4.2 million dollars for the campaign. An additional sweepstakes offers supporters a chance to win the full portfolio for a $250 contribution to the fund.

Image: Artist James Rosenquist

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Image: Warhol’s Cow Wallpaper and Silver Pillows, The New York Times

“Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years” is a group show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that juxtaposes fifty Warhol works with one hundred of those by his peers and successors. The show attempts to capture the scope and breadth of Warhol’s impact on contemporary art history. Presented 25 years after his death at the age of 58 in 1987, the exhibition showcases the works of both artists who have risen to fame after Warhol’s death as well that of his contemporaries. Some of the artists included are Maurizio Cattelan, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Robert Gober, Takashi Murakami, Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha, Alex Katz, Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter.

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British band Florence and the Machine will headline the second Art + Film Gala hosted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a stark contrast from last year’s choice of Stevie Wonder. The annual event, to be co-chaired by Leonardi Di Caprio and museum trustee Eva Chow on October 27, was conceived by the Museum to raise the profile of film and raised $3 million in 2011.

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Former MOCA Chief Executive Charles E. Young has called for the removal of museum director Jeffrey Deitch following a tumultuous month that included the resignation of long-time curator Paul Schimmel and artists John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Barbara Kruger and Ed Ruscha. In an email to donor and influential board member Eli Broad, Young concluded that “I will do anything I can to try to right the MOCA ship, but nothing will work, in my mind, without a new Captain/Director.”

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Amidst the resignation of chief curator Paul Schimmel and artist-trustees Catherine Opie, Barbara Kruger, John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha,MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch responds to recent criticisms in an open letter and also an interview in which he rejects the notion of a more “celebrity-driven” exhibition program. “I believe that an art exhibition can be engaging, fun and deeply intellectually satisfying and serious,” Deitch said. “These are not contradictory concepts in art.”

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Ed Ruscha has resigned from the Board of Trustees at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Following Joh Baldessari, Catherine Opie and Barbara Kruger’s departure over the dismissal of long time curator Paul Schimmel, the board is now with no artist representation. In a letter to museum director Jeffrey Deitch, Ruscha was candid; “My defection may look obvious, but it will be all the better for the museum, which is on a course different than I imagined, but one I hope to support in the future.”

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The Water Tank Project to collaborate with a team of artists including Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, and Jay-Z in designing 100 New York City water tanks for next Spring.

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Harmony Korine, Still from Caput (2011). All images courtesy of Megan Hoetger for Art Observed.

Hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art but housed at an off-site location, James Franco’s current exhibition, Rebel, has garnered a lot of attention in Los Angeles for its play on the artist/actor’s own celebrity status. Bringing together Franco’s contemporary fame with Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece Rebel Without A Cause (1955), the exhibition explores the contours of a life lived in Hollywood.

James Franco, “Rebel” Installation View (2012) featuring Ed Ruscha’s Rebel (2011).

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‪‬Ed Ruscha models Band of Outsiders spring line

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‪‬James Franco and LA MoCA will screen ‘Rebel’ film at “unusual” venue of JF Chen’s furniture boutique, with work shown also by Douglas Gordon, Harmony Korine, Damon McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Terry Richardson, Ed Ruscha, and Aaron Young [AO Newslink]

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‪‪‬Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, Tony Oursler, Marilyn Minter, Carrie Mae Weems, and rapper Jay-Z to artistically modify 300 NYC rooftop water tanks to “raise awareness on the global water supply” [AO Newslink]

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David Hockney, A Bigger Splash (1967). All images via Artnet.

Not only is the Getty the hub of activities for the Southern California-wide Pacific Standard Time (PST) programming, but it is also host to a number of events and exhibitions, including Greetings from L.A.: Artists and Publics, 1950-1980, From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column, In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945-1980, and performances for the Performance and Public Art Festival that will take place later in January. It has also mounted the large-scale, historical exhibition Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950 -1970. With 79 works by 47 artists, the exhibition charts the unique artistic innovations that have come to define the Los Angeles art scene as well as helped to shape some of the most important art movements from the second half of the 20^th century.

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Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ed Ruscha drive around, talk about art, in multi-gallery project Pacific Standard Time’s newest ad [AO Newslink]

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

One of the biggest official collateral events of the 54th Venice Biennale is “Venice in Venice.” The exhibition’s fill title is “Venice in Venice: Glow & Reflection – Venice California Art from 1960 to the Present,” organized by Foundation 20 21 and taking place June 1st – July 31st at Palazzo Contarini Dagli Scrigni. Curated by Tim Nye and Jaqueline Miro, the exhibition include works by seminal Southern California artists Peter Alexander, John Altoon, Charles Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Larry Bell, Tony Berlant, Wallace Berman, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Ron Cooper, Mary Corse, Laddie John Dill, Joe Goode, Robert Graham, George Herms, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Ed Moses,Kenneth Price, Ed Ruscha, and James Turrell.

Curator Jacqueline Miro, Director of the Getty Image Research Institute Andrew Perchuk, and artists exhibiting in the Venice in Venice show.

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