One reason I love Ed Ruscha is for his light-footed omnipresence: it seems that no museum in the world, no matter its size, is free from at least a little Ruscha print, wry and Californian, accompanied by a tag, labeled ubiquitously, "gift from the Artist." It's become a kind of game for me to find them tucked into unrelated curations. I have to wonder if that's his intention, or he's so prolific that he can't get rid of them fast enough. In any case, there is a certain silliness to it.
Other Reasons I love Ed Ruscha:
How he works within the idiom of commercial art.
The dusky minimalism of his word paintings, as well as
His genius with a bullshit turn of phrase.
His sense of humor, and how funny his pieces look in museums.
His silent allegiance to the sanctity of the West Coast, and,
The way his L.A. paintings don't rely on pomp, just structure.
Finally, his understanding of the object dimensionality of print.
