Ed Ruscha’s paintings had a huge effect on me when I first saw them when I was in high school. They opened me up and made me realize art could be nearly anything. It could be funny. It could be sarcastic. It could be about ordinary daily life. It didn’t have to be all that hard to do, to actually execute. I could work with stencils and rulers and tape, and I didn’t have to draw that well.
This was a huge revelation! I could go a long way just being clever! Suddenly, I realized there was a path for me!
It also made me realize that art was much bigger and broader than I realized. It didn’t have to be a detailed painting of some historical figure, or a bunch of cows in a landscape, to have impact, and to connect, with people.
I first got interested in photography in middle school, in the 1970s. Some friends showed me there was a small darkroom at the school, and they showed me how to develop film, and how to make enlargements.
Seeing a piece by Calder is always a fresh and delightful experience. His work is not really “around that much.” Unlike the work of some of the recent, super-popular artists like Warhol, or Koons, or Basquiat, whose work seems to show up every time you turn a page, or click a link, you sometimes go …
Ed Ruscha
Ed Ruscha’s paintings had a huge effect on me when I first saw them when I was in high school. They opened me up and made me realize art could be nearly anything. It could be funny. It could be sarcastic. It could be about ordinary daily life. It didn’t have to be all that hard to do, to actually execute. I could work with stencils and rulers and tape, and I didn’t have to draw that well.
This was a huge revelation! I could go a long way just being clever! Suddenly, I realized there was a path for me!
It also made me realize that art was much bigger and broader than I realized. It didn’t have to be a detailed painting of some historical figure, or a bunch of cows in a landscape, to have impact, and to connect, with people.
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