Cotton Puffs, Q-tips, Smoke and Mirrors: The Drawings of Ed Ruscha / Margit Rowell

by Margit Rowell, Cornelia Butler

Cotton Puffs, Q-tips®, Smoke and The Drawings of Ed Ruscha showcases Ed Ruscha's singular vision and his wide range of highly personal mediums and techniques -- from pastels and gunpowder to blood, coffee, and tobacco stains. Ed Ruscha's work includes paintings, photographs, prints, books, and films, but his unique works on paper are perhaps his richest vein. Through his interpretations of cultural icons and vernacular subjects such as the Hollywood sign, trademarks, and gas stations, as well as his renderings of words and phrases in countless stylistic variations, Ruscha proposes a modern landscape based on keen observation and wry humor.

Genres: Art

261 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[Michael Vagnetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

1) They take a documentary approach. They are about facts, and are functional, like the words in a manual for something you were trying to do.
2) They are premeditated instead of emotional. This puts the onus on the viewer-reader.
3) They emphasize the comedic value of the words.
4) They are not grounded in an established typeface - this is a different kind of word.
2) Words are not entirely effable. Reading as a material activity, and it might not be immaterial. To use a word is like using a thing. "I started looking at ideas as though they were stains."

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best collection of Ruscha's work I've seen in print. Bought it after being astounded by his exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish .i could have seen this exhibition. The book is large enough to have beautiful images of Ruscha's drawings.