Ed Ruscha: Extremes and In-betweens

In this new book, Ed Ruscha distills the archetypal signs and symbols of the American vernacular into typographic and cinematic codes that are as accessible as they are profound.
These powerful works, all completed in 2016, are reproduced in this stunning new volume in beautiful color-saturated plates to which black and white installation photos, as well as studio shots, provide a striking contrast. New texts by art historian Yve-Alain Bois and art critic Ben Eastham situate these new works within Ruscha’s larger oeuvre and provide detailed insight into particular works.
In the restrained paintings that comprise Extremes and In-Betweens, Ruscha sets into motion a dynamic interplay of words and their meanings in ascending and descending shifts of scale and tone that echo the relation of macrocosm to microcosm. Although his images are undeniably rooted in the signs and symbols of American reality closely observed, his elegant and laconic art speaks to more complex and widespread issues regarding the appearance, feel, and function of the world and our tenuous and transient place within it.

A specialist in twentieth-century European and American art, Yve-Alain Bois is recognized as an expert on a wide range of artists, from Matisse, Picasso, and Mondrian to more contemporary artists, such as Ellsworth Kelly. He is a professor of art history at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Ben Eastham is the cofounder and editor of The White Review, a magazine on literature and the visual arts. He also serves as assistant editor for Art-agenda.