Various Small Books : Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha

Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 2013. Third Printing. Hardcover. Over two decades, artist Ed Ruscha created numerous, small, artist's books, topically focused on examples of the mundane. His first artist's book Twentysix Gas Stations, was exactly that: photographs of twenty-six gas stations on Route 66 between Los Angeles and Oklahoma. Ruscha stated that he was not enamored with photography and that using the medium wasn't a goal itself. "The title came about before I even thought about the pictures. I like the word 'gasoline' and I like the specific quantity of twenty-six." His process and project were finding twenty-six examples that fit the idea. As Phil Taylor writes in this book, "Ruscha's books adopt the guise of non-creative art-making." This concept resonated with other artists and this book collects 91 small artist's books that "revisit, imitate, honor, and parody Ruscha in form, content, and title. Some rephotograph his subjects: Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Forty Years Later. Some offer a humorous variation: 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 different: None of the Buildings on Sunset Strip. Some reach for a connection with Ruscha himself: 17 Parked Cars in Various Parking Lots Along Pacific Coast Highway Between My House and Ed Ruscha's." This collection of small artist's books continues beyond Marcel Duchamp and Ed Ruscha in describing found objects and the built environment as art. Depicted in 298 color and 55 monochrome photographs, these books range from obvious, to puzzling, to hilarious, and all stimulate the conversation around 'What is art?' Includes an index of all known (as of 2013) Ruscha 'tribute' books and brief biographies of the artist creators. All text by Phil Taylor with an essay by Mark Rawlinson. Digitally typeset in Garamond, Rockwell, Trade Gothic. Paginated 287,[1]. Bound in red cloth over boards, with bold, high-contrast titling than mimics not only Ed Ruscha books, but most books that pay homage to and mimic those same Ed Ruscha books. No dust jacket as-issued. This is a clean, sharp copy in Fine condition.; Color Photographs; Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall; 288 pages .