Royal Road Test

by Ed Ruscha, Mason Williams, Patrick Blackwell

book

Genres: Photography, Art

Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Edward Ruscha is a towering figure of American Pop Art whose multidisciplinary practice redefined the visual language of the late twentieth century. Born in Omaha and raised in Oklahoma City, Ruscha moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to study at the Chouinard Art Institute, where he was mentored by Robert Irwin and Emerson Woelffer. Rising to prominence in the early 1960s alongside the influential Ferus Gallery group, he gained international acclaim for his "word paintings"—monosyllabic oils like OOF, BOSS, and HONK—which isolated typography against monochromatic backgrounds, reflecting his background in commercial art and a fascination with the "deadpan" irreverence of the Pop movement. His work is inextricably linked to the vernacular of Southern California, capturing the sprawling aesthetics of Los Angeles through iconic depictions of the Hollywood sign, stylized gas stations, and continuous photographic surveys such as Every Building on the Sunset Strip. A master of diverse media, Ruscha has famously experimented with unconventional materials, including gunpowder, blood, axle grease, and various food products like chocolate syrup and caviar, to create works that bridge the gap between commercial graphics and fine art. His influence extends significantly into the "New Topographics" photography movement and conceptual art, challenging traditional views of the urban landscape by dispassionately documenting America’s suburban structures. In 1962, his work was featured in the groundbreaking New Painting of Common Objects exhibition, widely considered one of the first Pop Art surveys in America. Throughout his storied career, he has been the subject of major retrospectives at the world’s leading museums, including the Centre Pompidou, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Ruscha has also contributed to public spaces through monumental commissions for the Getty Center and the Miami-Dade Public Library. In recognition of his enduring impact, he represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in both 1970 and 2005, and in 2013, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. His artistic reach even touched popular culture, with his typeface "Boy Scout Utility Modern" and his collaboration on cover art for Paul McCartney and The Beatles. Beyond his own production, Ruscha has served as a trustee for the Museum of Contemporary Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, underscoring his leadership within the arts community. His unique "cool gaze" remains a quintessential chronicler of the American West, blending the cinematic proportions of Hollywood with the mundane reality of the open road. Today, his works are held in premier permanent collections worldwide, cementing his legacy as a defining artist of the postwar era who transformed the way we read, see, and experience the modern environment.

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume comprises a series of "crime scene" photographs depicting the aftermath of the mobile, vehicular defenestration of a Royal typewriter by pop artist Ed Rushca and hipster polymath ("Classical Gas," The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour) Mason Williams, as featured in the 2016 documentary California Typewriter . Fun idea, but the gag wore thin before I reached the end of the slim volume, partly - but not entirely - because of the movie spoiler. I guess 1967, which also saw the release of Alice's Restaurant, was a banner year for artistic celebrations of littering.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite little oddities. Ed Ruscha and Mason Williams threw a royal typewriter from a convertible going sixty miles out into the desert. Then they documented the whole event in photographs. Typewriter keys hanging from tumbleweeds, the carriage return and other parts mangled in the dirt. It was a precursor of the art to come.

[Zachary Bramblett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only available via pdf (or if you have $500+ to spend on an original) due to there being no reprint ever to have been published. I consider this story a small burst of artistic vision. I found out about it through the documentary, "California Typewriter". Essentially, it's documentation of what happens when a typewriter is thrown out of a vehicle going 90mph in the desert. That's it. It takes 3 minutes to flip through all the photos. Why not?