What do you think?
Rate this book
VARIOUS SMALL BOOKS: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha by Phil Taylor
In the 1960s and 1970s, the artist Ed Ruscha created a series of small photo-conceptual artist's books, among them "Twentysix Gas Stations, Various Small Fires, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Real Estate Opportunities," and "A Few Palm Trees." Featuring mundane subjects photographed prosaically, with idiosyncratically deadpan titles, these "small books" were sought after, collected, and loved by Ruscha's fans and fellow artists. Over the past thirty years, close to 100 other small books that appropriated or paid homage to Ruscha's have appeared throughout the world. This book collects ninety-one of these projects, showcasing the cover and sample layouts from each along with a description of the work. It also includes selections from Ruscha's books and an appendix listing all known Ruscha book tributes. These small books revisit, imitate, honor, and parody Ruscha in form, content, and title. Some rephotograph his "Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Forty Years Later." Some offer a humorous "Various Unbaked Cookies" (which concludes, as did Ruscha's Various "Small Fires," with a glass of milk), "Twentynine Palms" (twenty-nine photographs of palm-readers' signs). Some say something "None of the Buildings on Sunset Strip." Some reach for a connection with Ruscha "17 Parked Cars in Various Parking Lots Along Pacific Coast Highway Between My House and Ed Ruscha's." With his books, Ruscha expanded the artist's field of permissible subjects, approaches, and methods. With "VARIOUS SMALL BOOKS," various artists pay tribute to Ed Ruscha and extend the legacy of his books.
Hardcover
First published January 4, 2013
5 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 15, 2023
The best part of this volume was the introductory essay by Mark Rawlinson, which considers Ed Ruscha's photobook "Twentysix Gasoline Stations" from a number of points of view. Is it art? Why or why not? Either way, it seems to have had a lasting influence on the production of photobooks ever since, as "Various Small Books" makes clear.
In my opinion the idea of Ruscha's book is much more interesting that the book itself--that art should not be some exclusive and elite experience into which you need to be granted admission, mediated by an often invisible group of critics who decide what is valuable or good and what is not.
I get that.
But the Ruscha's book itself is not that engaging. Maybe it has value as social commentary, but as art? Meh.
And the imitations? Out of 125 books, maybe five or six had anything new or different to say. The cumulative effect is one of utter banality. Maybe the purpose behind the taking of all these photos and compiling them between in one place is to say that the works of humanity as seen by what they litter the landscape with are mostly unmemorable--but does the world need so many reminders of the obvious? And with such a blatant rip-off in format? Most of these books don't even pretend to be anything but sheer imitation, pretentious pandering to a trend.
To look at all these 125 books together is to see an encapsulation of the world we have created with social media. A world of appropriation, "borrowing", a constant search for reinforcement of the same things, for likes. Trendiness. Art as meme.
Everything is the same now. And that's boring.
In my opinion the idea of Ruscha's book is much more interesting that the book itself--that art should not be some exclusive and elite experience into which you need to be granted admission, mediated by an often invisible group of critics who decide what is valuable or good and what is not.
I get that.
But the Ruscha's book itself is not that engaging. Maybe it has value as social commentary, but as art? Meh.
And the imitations? Out of 125 books, maybe five or six had anything new or different to say. The cumulative effect is one of utter banality. Maybe the purpose behind the taking of all these photos and compiling them between in one place is to say that the works of humanity as seen by what they litter the landscape with are mostly unmemorable--but does the world need so many reminders of the obvious? And with such a blatant rip-off in format? Most of these books don't even pretend to be anything but sheer imitation, pretentious pandering to a trend.
To look at all these 125 books together is to see an encapsulation of the world we have created with social media. A world of appropriation, "borrowing", a constant search for reinforcement of the same things, for likes. Trendiness. Art as meme.
Everything is the same now. And that's boring.
December 29, 2020
"I am interested in what is interesting"-Ed Ruscha, 1971
A fascinating tour of the smaller books which seek our attention. None of these books were issued by a major publication house. We should at least consider the advantages of keeping things small. Readers are so easily tempted to inflate the value of a reading experience because of all the hype, the ratings, the dollars which have commodified literacy. Open to the title page, right away there they are: Fifteen Pornography Companies (pictures of the businesses' exteriors), Thirtysix Fire Stations, Eminent Erections (utility polls that line our freeways) [notice how I strain to keep it clean], Various Unbaked Cookies, Peanuts, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, and one of my favorites, Twentynine Palms (not the desert city but the signs used to attraction business "Palm Readers")
Why do I think you should read this book? The answer, briefly, is that some I speak with live exceptionally ordinary lives. There are those immersed in the mundane. It's a struggle to assume a perspective superior to the mundane, most people give up. Here is a book filled with the mundane. Since most of you reading this are immersed in the mundane, have at it. It's your element. It's mine too.
A fascinating tour of the smaller books which seek our attention. None of these books were issued by a major publication house. We should at least consider the advantages of keeping things small. Readers are so easily tempted to inflate the value of a reading experience because of all the hype, the ratings, the dollars which have commodified literacy. Open to the title page, right away there they are: Fifteen Pornography Companies (pictures of the businesses' exteriors), Thirtysix Fire Stations, Eminent Erections (utility polls that line our freeways) [notice how I strain to keep it clean], Various Unbaked Cookies, Peanuts, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, and one of my favorites, Twentynine Palms (not the desert city but the signs used to attraction business "Palm Readers")
Why do I think you should read this book? The answer, briefly, is that some I speak with live exceptionally ordinary lives. There are those immersed in the mundane. It's a struggle to assume a perspective superior to the mundane, most people give up. Here is a book filled with the mundane. Since most of you reading this are immersed in the mundane, have at it. It's your element. It's mine too.
July 12, 2020
Fun concept. I am totally taken with the small books concept and all of the ideas people have come up with that emulate, parody, or expand upon Ruscha's work. However, I feel like this book is a little like stepping into a joke part way through. There is enough information to get it, but it sure would have been better from the beginning. I would have appreciate more background on Ruscha's series and a concise list/description of his small books, so that I could better understand the relationships with the new artist work. I also would have preferred less description of the various books, and more photographs.
Read
April 3, 2023art is soooo easy to make fr just take any picture of anything and ascribe meaning to it...the personal is political in the same way all art has meaning.. not all art is Good but it will Mean Something
April 28, 2024
Inscrutable and elliptical, just like me!
August 1, 2024
Ed Ruscha's artist books have inspired imitations, many examples are included in this book. Imitation or inspiration?
August 18, 2025
I fell into the various-small-books hole after flipping through a list of cult books that included Twentysix Gasoline Stations by Ed Ruscha. And, wow, what a fun rabbit hole to fall into here in summer 2025 (I need artful delights more than ever right now considering the vile happenings in the wide world). The opening essay was particularly informative to get some more insightful background on this whole small artists book thing. Way to set the world alight, Ed Ruscha!
I adore the contra perspective included both in the essay and in reviews I see here on Goodreads. LOL, on the one hand, I'm just a passing consumer of the books so what do I really know about how to tell if it's art or not? But on the other hand, considering all the things I've experienced/read in the world of modern art, I (humbly) scoff that some don't consider it art. For sure, I also found Ruscha's 1971 quote quite impactful and a great explanation for why this is a fabulous rabbit hole: "I am interested in what is interesting."
It was "interesting" to see all the imitation/emulation/inspiration set off by Ruscha's small books. I will admit by the end, I was skipping over every single entry that had even the faintest whiff of gasoline, or stations in the title, LOL! How many of those does the world need? But I couldn't help but wonder as I was reading this if that adorable book - 50 Sad Chairs - that I loved discovering/experiencing a few years ago was a more plebian/commercial work inspired by Ruscha? I opt to think it was, and now I love it even more.
Other random notes:
Ugh, I hate how this book is entered into Goodreads (all caps title) and how Ruscha's name is listed as Ed in all his books posted on Goodreads (with Edward clearly listed on all the books, themselves). I work in an institution where if you put Edward as the author, Edward goes in the record. And we don't cotton to this all caps in the title shit, either.
I giggled when I saw all the book photos included fingers of the person holding the books for the photos. Heh, I had done the same for the photos I took of Ruscha's books in my library (but didn't post any here). Touches like that are just pure fun!
I weep to get my hands on a few of these books (but doubt I will). Most of all Various Blank Pages. Hahahahaha!
I adore the contra perspective included both in the essay and in reviews I see here on Goodreads. LOL, on the one hand, I'm just a passing consumer of the books so what do I really know about how to tell if it's art or not? But on the other hand, considering all the things I've experienced/read in the world of modern art, I (humbly) scoff that some don't consider it art. For sure, I also found Ruscha's 1971 quote quite impactful and a great explanation for why this is a fabulous rabbit hole: "I am interested in what is interesting."
It was "interesting" to see all the imitation/emulation/inspiration set off by Ruscha's small books. I will admit by the end, I was skipping over every single entry that had even the faintest whiff of gasoline, or stations in the title, LOL! How many of those does the world need? But I couldn't help but wonder as I was reading this if that adorable book - 50 Sad Chairs - that I loved discovering/experiencing a few years ago was a more plebian/commercial work inspired by Ruscha? I opt to think it was, and now I love it even more.
Other random notes:
Ugh, I hate how this book is entered into Goodreads (all caps title) and how Ruscha's name is listed as Ed in all his books posted on Goodreads (with Edward clearly listed on all the books, themselves). I work in an institution where if you put Edward as the author, Edward goes in the record. And we don't cotton to this all caps in the title shit, either.
I giggled when I saw all the book photos included fingers of the person holding the books for the photos. Heh, I had done the same for the photos I took of Ruscha's books in my library (but didn't post any here). Touches like that are just pure fun!
I weep to get my hands on a few of these books (but doubt I will). Most of all Various Blank Pages. Hahahahaha!
May 10, 2013
Nice concept. Beautiful object. Introductory essay is a footnote to Ngai (a good thing).
Unfortunately the author makes a fool of himself by trying his hand at aesthetic theory: combining some buzzwords he remembered after reading Kant, Adorno, and the other usual suspects.
Unfortunately the author makes a fool of himself by trying his hand at aesthetic theory: combining some buzzwords he remembered after reading Kant, Adorno, and the other usual suspects.
Read
May 10, 2013709.04082 T2453 2013
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews