Various Small Books
Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha
Co-Edited by Jeff Brouws, Wendy Burton & Herman Zschiegner
Hardcover
288 pages
$40.00
The 1960s saw the inception of the photo-conceptualist artist book resulting from the trailblazing efforts of artist Ed Ruscha. In the decades that followed, numerous artists began embracing the banal, prosaic photographic subject matter ushered in by Ruscha allowing it to emerge as an important aesthetic category unto itself. Jeff Brouws is one many photographers who most passionately embraced this type of artistic practice, and who co-edited this text which pays homage to the lasting impact of Ruscha's artistic achievements. This text features two of Brouws's iconic portfolios "Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations" (1992) and "Twentynine Palms" (1991), which are among the earliest examples that draw on Ruscha's own innovations prior to the phenomenon of appropriating his work mushroomed in 2007. Brouws, over the past 30 years, has wholeheartedly embraced this approach, creating numerous series which address the ordinary and everyday across the American cultural landscape. This stunning new publication, which coincides with an exhibition encompassing Ed Ruscha's legendary books along with works by more than 100 contemporary artists at Gagosian Gallery, highlights both the lasting legacy of Ruscha while exploring the successful efforts of a multitude of artists since the late 20th century.
