Ed Ruscha is an American visual artist strongly associated with the Pop Art movement. He is proficient in many media, including photography, drawing, painting, and the creation of numerous artist books. Generally speaking, his art documents the shifting symbols of American life in the last half century. His deadpan representations of Hollywood logos and icons, gas stations, and landscapes convert the imagery of popular culture into a profound language of cinematic and typographical codes. Ruscha is also famous for his witty and wry choice of words and phrases used in his word paintings.
Early Life and Career
Ed Ruscha was born 1937 in Omaha, Nebraska and he studied painting, photography, and graphic design at the California Institute of the Arts. He comes from a Roman Catholic family and it is known that Ruscha’s mother was supporting his son’s artistic talents and interests. As a young boy, Edward Ruscha was quite interested in cartoons and comics and this interest has persisted a throughout his adolescence. Just like in the case of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha’s artistic skills were based on commercial art. In addition to his interest in cartoons, Ruscha was also passionate about graphic design and typography, which is evident in his works featuring various words and phrases carefully coordinated with the imagery and colors in the background. Ever since 1964, Ruscha has been exploring weird comic and satirical sayings related to the popular culture and life in LA.
Just like in the case of popular artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha’s artistic skills were based on commercial art

Working in Unusual Media: News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews, Dues
In the 1970s, Ruscha started experimenting with many non-traditional organic materials and even truly weird things, such as vinyl, blood, red wine, fruits and vegetables, chocolate syrup, tomato paste, coffee, caviar, various plants, eggs and grass stains. Using these unusual materials, he made his famous screenprints called News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews, Dues in the 70s. The names of these pieces allude to the segments of British culture – for example, News represents the tabloid-minded country, while Stews is related to the typical British dish. In the 70s, he also used to produce word paintings with edible products applied on silk and moire. For instance, his piece named A Blvd. Called Sunset from 1975 was made by applying blackberry juice on moiré. It is interesting to note that most of Ruscha’s saturated organic colors would become muted gray, beige or brown after drying up. This can be noticed in his series Insects from 1972, which includes six screen prints consists of six screen prints of interesting insect species. During the same year, in April 1972, Ruscha’s edible art has got a lot of public exposure after his photograph spelling the name of the magazine using pieces of food became the cover of ARTNews. His piece called Fruit Metrecal Hollywood is another great example the artist’s application of weird materials. In this particular case, he used apricot and grape jam to paint on paper. When it comes to the topics of Ruscha’s works from the mid-1960s and 70s, their goal is to merge the representative and absurd approaches, creating a surreal atmosphere. His works from this era often show bouncing and floating objects, as well as the distortion of size and proportions. Ruscha’s style from this era is strongly resembling surrealism, which has an important place in the artist’s career. A common recurring motif in Ruscha’s work is a depiction of a pencil, which is broken, melted, transformed, somewhat like the objects in famous paintings of Salvador Dali.
In the 1970s, Ruscha started experimenting with many non-traditional organic materials and tools

Obsession with Hollywood
During his years in Los Angeles, Ruscha became quite obsessed with Hollywood and everything it represented. He even said that Hollywood is a verb. It played a very important role in his art and it was his favorite muse. In 1973, he even photographed the entire Hollywood Boulevard. His love for Hollywood grew even stronger after he started getting engaged in the movie industry – for example, his painting The End from 1991 looks exactly like the final shot in the old black and white movies. Also, the proportions of his prints from the Hollywood series were made to mimic the Cinemascope screen. In order to create the word Hollywood in his pieces, Ruscha had to transpose the letters from their usual location in Santa Monica Mountains to the top the hill.
During his years in Los Angeles, Ruscha became quite obsessed with Hollywood and everything related to its culture and style – it was his muse

Edward Ruscha’s Most Famous Works: Word Paintings
Ruscha’s word paintings represent the result of his long-term interest in words and typography. The very first of Ruscha’s word paintings oil paintings on paper, created in Paris in 1961. Later on, from 1966 to 1969, Ruscha started using a new style, called liquid word paintings. His pieces such as Adios from 1967 and Desire from 1969 were written as if using a spilled liquid over a simple flat surface. He also used gunpowder and graphite drawings from 1967 to 1970. His artworks from this short interval feature words represented in a trompe l’oeil technique, which means they look like as if they were made of curling paper. In the 1970s, Ruscha became one of the pioneers of inserting phrases into visual arts, together with Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer. Later on, this particular style became of the main directions in the post-Pop Art generation. In the mid-1970s, Ruscha made an innovative series of drawings in pastel using witty phrases, while in the early 1980s he made a splendid series of paintings of words written over sunsets or late night skies. In the 90s, Ruscha has changed his style again and started producing photorealist images of mountains. He also changed his approach to typography and began to use the all-caps typeface that he invented and named Boy Scout Utility Modern. This simple font is very different from the ones he used to use in his old works. Also, it is interesting to note that in the mid-80s, Ruscha was using black or white censor strips in his works, in order to suggest where the missing words should have been positioned. The similar blank space is also used in his Silhouette and Cityscapes series.
In the 90s, Ruscha has changed his style again and started producing photorealist images of mountains

Ruscha’s Photography, Documentary, and Movies
Photography was a really important medium during the entire Ruscha’s career. He started taking pictures back in 1961 when he traveled to Europe with his family. His photo imagery is quite simple and straightforward, even deadpan at times and his subjects often lack some basic aesthetic values. His series called Products represents boxes of raisins and various kitchen cleaning items, such as detergents. Ruscha’s photos rarely portray humans, they revolve around formal still lifes and simple environments. His photo editions are also rooted in the conceptual approach, which becomes evident especially in his art books. One of his most famous photographic books is called Every Building on Sunset Strip and it is based on the negatives of six images from his book, which we reworked in a certain way. The artist was painted on the negatives, which resulted in photographs which look like faded black-and-white film. His another photo series called Tropical Fish, from 1974, is somewhat different since in this case the artist has used the unaltered photographs directly in his work. During the 1970s, in addition to his photographic pieces, Ruscha has also dedicated himself to filmmaking and he made a number of short films, such as Premium from 1971 and Miracle from 1975. Premium was filmed thanks to the help of Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Ruscha based the scenario of this short movie on his photo book from 1969 and transformed it into a film which features Larry Bell and Leon Bing. When it comes to Miracle, it is also based on one of the artist’s previous pieces, a painting of the same name, describing an unusual day in the life of an auto mechanic. The main actors in this movie are Jim Ganzer and Michelle Phillips. In 1984, he even appeared in a movie himself. In Choose Me, directed by Alan Rudolph, he accepted a small role. More recently, in 2010, Ruscha appeared in another movie, called Sleepwalkers. Besides regular movies, Ruscha’s presence is notable in a couple of documentaries. He was featured in Michael Blackwood’s American Art in the Sixties and also L.A. Suggested by the Art of Edward Ruscha, which is 1981 documentary made by Gary Conklin. A lot of interviews with Ruscha are included in the following documentaries: The Decisive Moments from 2002, The Cool School and Iconoclasts from 2008 and How to Make a Book with Steidl, from 2010.
One of Ruscha’s most famous photographic books is called Every Building on Sunset Strip and it is based on the negatives of six images from his book

Exhibitions and Commissioned Pieces
Ed Ruscha has a very long history of exhibitions since he’s an active exhibitor starting from the 60s. One of the first important public commissions he made is a monumental mural at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego in 1966 and a large 360-degree panel made for the Public Library in Denver. Later on, in 1998, Ruscha made another giant public project, which was a thirty-foot high painting called Picture Without Words, for the Harold M. Williams Auditorium. In 2014, he made his first public commission in New York City, called Honey, I Twisted Through More Damn Traffic Today, which is again a large mural. Ruscha has also participated in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, by creating a limited-edition of T-shirts. Ruscha has also numerous private commissioned works, such as Public Stoning from 2007, Boy Meets Girl from 1987 and Stella from 2001.
In 1970, Ruscha took part in the Venice Biennale and he had his own printmaking workshop these. He designed the Chocolate Room, an innovative visual and sensory 360-degree experience, where the visitors were completely engulfed by the seductive world of chocolate. Because of this, the entire pavilion in Venice smelled like a chocolate. Ruscha has been the subject of numerous museum retrospectives, the first one being held in 1983 at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles organized another important retrospective of his work in 1998 and the Whitney Museum of American Art has done the same in 2004. In 2006, even European museums started organizing retrospectives of Ruscha’s splendid work, such as the Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Kunsthaus Zurich, and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
Ed Ruscha has a very long history of exhibitions since he’s been an active exhibitor starting from the 60s

The Legacy of Ed Ruscha
J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute have acquired many of Ruscha’s photographs and also his Streets of Los Angeles archive. This archive consists of many negatives, photo contact sheets, and similar documents. Some of these items will become the artist’s gift to Getty. Another institution interested in Ruscha’s work is Harry Ransom Center. In 2013, this center acquired the artist’s archive which consists of numberless journals, sketches, and notes, as well as the materials for the artist’s book called On The Road. Harry Ranson Center also acquired his materials related to the short films Miracle and Premium as well as his legendary portfolios. A large portion of these works is donated to the archive of the Ransom Center by the artist.
J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute have acquired many of Ruscha’s works

Carefully Observed American Society
I could see I was just born for the job, born to watch paint dry, Ruscha says about his natural predilection for visual arts. Even though his images are based in the vernacular of a closely observed American society, they are elegant in a laconic way. They don’t speak only about the American lifestyle and culture, but also about more complex, universal and widespread issues related to the appearance, meaning and function of the world we’re living in, which is a transient, ever-changing place, and each of its different phases has a certain artistic charm to it.
The artist is represented by Gagosian Park & 75 New York, Gagosian Madison Avenue New York, Gagosian West 24th Street, Gagosian Beverly Hills, Gagosian Britannia Street, Gagosian West 21st Street, and Galerie Fluegel-Roncak.
Edward Ruscha lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Featured image: Ed Ruscha photographed at his Culver City studio – image via artnews.com
All other images copyright of the artist.
Year | Name of the exhibition | Gallery/Museum | Solo/Group |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Made in California | Mana Contemporary, Jersey City | Solo |
2016 | Ed Ruscha: Ribbon Words | Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, NYC | Solo |
2016 | Ed Ruscha: Mountain Prints | Gagosian Gallery, Geneva | Solo |
2015 | Ed Ruscha | Crown Point Press, San Francisco | Solo |
2015 | Ed Ruscha: Prints and Photographs | Gagosian Gallery, Paris | Solo |
2014 | Ed Ruscha: Prints and Photographs | Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY. | Solo |
2014 | Everything Loose Will Land | Graham Foundation, Chicago, IL | Group |
2014 | Bas Jan Ader, Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Mike Kelley | Patrick Painter Inc., Santa Monica, CA. | Group |
2014 | Group Show | Gagosian Gallery, Paris, France | Group |
2013 | In Focus: Ed Ruscha | The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA. | Solo |
2013 | Ed Ruscha Books & Co | Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, New York, NY | Solo |
2013 | Ed Ruscha: Books and Paintings | Brandhorst Museum, Munich, Germany | Solo |
2013 | Ed Ruscha: Los Angeles Apartments | Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. | Solo |
2013 | The Time is Now | John Berggruen Gallery. San Francisco, CA | Group |
2013 | Secrets of Sunset Beach | Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, England | Group |
2013 | Cloud Illusions I Recall | Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Irelandn | Group |
2013 | Some Dreamers of the Golden Gream | Greene Naftali, New York, NY | Group |
2013 | Station to Station | Train station in Winslow, AZ. | Group |
2012 | Ed Ruscha: Standard | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2012 | Artists’ Rooms on Tour: Ed Ruscha | Tate, London, England | Solo |
2012 | Reading Ed Ruscha | Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY | Solo |
2012 | Ed Ruscha: Los Angeles. Then and Now | Peter Lund Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2012 | Reading Ed Ruscha | Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria | Solo |
2012 | The Ancients Stole All Our Great Ideas, Curated by Ed Ruscha | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, nAustria | Group |
2012 | Rarely Seen Contemporary Works on Paper | The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL | Group |
2012 | Writing is a Journey | Louis Vuitton, Paris, France. | Group |
2012 | Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY | Group |
2012 | Rebel | Museum of Contemporary Art, JF Chen, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2011 | Ed Ruscha: On the Road | Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2011 | Ed Ruscha: Psycho Spaghetti Westerns | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA. | Solo |
2011 | Ed Ruscha: Road Tested | Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX | Solo |
2011 | Noli Me Tangere | Vanmoerkerke Collection, Oostende, Belgium | Group |
2010 | Ed Ruscha: Apartments, Parking Lots, Palm Trees and Others: Films, Photographs and nDrawings from 1961 to 1975. | Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany.n | Solo |
2010 | Ed Ruscha | Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden.n | Solo |
2010 | Ed Ruscha: Libros | Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid, Spain | Solo |
2010 | R S T W | Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | Group |
2010 | Crash: Homage to JG Ballard | Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street, London, England. | Group |
2010 | Summer Exhibition 2010 | Royal Academy of Arts, London, England | Group |
2010 | Beauty is Diamond | Laleh June Galerie, Basel, Switzerland | Group |
2010 | Meet Me Inside | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA | Group |
2009 | Ed Ruscha | Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland | Solo |
2009 | Ed Ruscha: 50 Years of Painting | Hayward Gallery, London; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Haus der Kunst, Munich | Solo |
2009 | Inside/Out: 20th Anniversary Exhibition | Armory for the Arts, Pasadena, CA | Group |
2009 | Inspired | Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Scotland | Group |
2009 | Stages | Galerie Emmanuel, Paris, France | Group |
2009 | Summer Exhibition 2009 | Royal Academy of Arts, London, England | Group |
2009 | Magritte and Light | Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels, Belgium | Group |
2009 | WALL ROCKETS: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruschan | FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY | Group |
2009 | Blue, Blue | Maloney Fine Art & Kim Light/Lightbox, Culver City, CA | Group |
2009 | ARTISTS ROOMS | The d’Offay Foundation, Tate Modern, London, England | Group |
2008 | Ed Ruscha: Industrial Strength | Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA | Solo |
2008 | Ed Ruscha, Works on Paper | David et Marcel Fleiss, Paris, France. | Solo |
2008 | Ed Ruscha: Paintings | Gagosian Gallery, London, England | Solo |
2008 | Ed Ruscha: For What You Are About To Receive | Gagosian Gallery, Moscow, Russia | Group |
2008 | PART I | Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden | Group |
2008 | Time & Place: Los Angeles, 1958-1968 | Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden | Group |
2007 | Ed Ruscha: Busted Glass | Gagosian Gallery, London, England | Solo |
2007 | The Left Coast | Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA | Group |
2007 | Lights, Camera, Action: Artists’ films for the cinema | Whitney Museum of American Art, New nYork, NY | Group |
2006 | Ed Ruscha: Early Prints | Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA | Solo |
2006 | Ed Ruscha: Signs+Streets+Streets+Signs | Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA | Solo |
2006 | Ed Ruscha: La mirada distanciada | Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporàneo, México City, México | Solo |
2006 | Ed Ruscha: Drawings | Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY | Solo |
2006 | Ed Ruscha: Insect Portfolio (1972) | Griffin Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2006 | Ed Ruscha, Photographer | Jeu de Paume, Paris; Kunsthaus Zurich; nMuseum Ludwig, Cologne | Solo |
2006 | Magritte: The Treachery of Images | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. | Group |
2006 | Surprise, Surprise | Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England | Group |
2006 | The Other Side | Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2006 | Los Angeles 1955-1985 | Centre Pompidou, Paris, France | Group |
2006 | Continuum | Biennale d'art contemporain du Havre, Musée Malraux, France | Group |
2005 | Ed Ruscha: Books | Bernier/Eliades, Athens, Greece | Solo |
2005 | Ed Ruscha: THEN & NOW | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CAn | Solo |
2005 | Ed Ruscha: New Drawings | Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy | Solo |
2005 | Ruscha: Pools, Parking Lots, Gas Stations | Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY | Solo |
2005 | Ed Ruscha: Selected Works | Edward Tyler Nahem, New York, NY | Solo |
2005 | Ed Ruscha: Course of Empire | 51st Venice Biennale, U.S. Pavilion, Venice, Italy; Whitney nMuseum of American Art, New York, NY | Solo |
2005 | Ed Ruscha: Paintings and Works on Paper From 1964-2002 | Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long nIsland City, NY | Solo |
2005 | Accidental death | David Risley Gallery, London, England | Group |
2005 | Untitled | Edward Tyler Nahem, New York, NY | Group |
2005 | The Perception of the Horizontal | Museion, Berlin, Germany | Group |
2005 | Dialogue: Baldessari, Prince, Ruscha, Wool | Perry Rubenstein, New York, NYn | Group |
2005 | Landscape | The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY | Group |
2005 | Vanishing Point | Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH | Group |
2005 | Ordering the Ordinary (curated by David Thorp) | Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, England | Group |
2005 | Summer Exhibition 2005n | Royal Academy of Arts, London, England | Group |
2005 | Getting Emotional | Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA | Group |
2005 | West! Frank Gehry and the Artists of Venice Beach, 1962-1978 | The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN | Group |
2005 | Works on Paper | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA | Group |
2005 | L’Art de Vivre | Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY. | Group |
2005 | Homestyle | Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2005 | The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Postwar Photography, 1960-1982. | Miami Art Central, nMiami, FL | Group |
2005 | Logical Conclusions: 40 Years of Rule-Based Art | Pace Wildenstein, New York, NY | Group |
2005 | Ed Ruscha, Robert Frank, and Walker Evans | Richardson Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2005 | Contemporary Voices: Works from The UBS Art Collection | Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY | Group |
2004 | Witty Wonders from Anagrams to Gunpowder and All the Parking Lots on Sunset Strip | Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY | Solo |
2004 | Ed Ruscha: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, Book | Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, nEdinburgh, Scotland | Solo |
2004 | Edward Ruscha: 80’s & 90’s Paintings and Prints | Ishizaka Art, Tokyo | Solo |
2004 | Ed Ruscha: New Drawings | Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY | Solo |
2004 | Cotton Puffs, Q-Tips®, Smoke and Mirrors: The Drawings of Ed Ruscha | The Whitney Museum nof American Art, New York, NYMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; nNational Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C | Solo |
2004 | Ed Ruscha | Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, nRome, Italy; National Gallery, Berlin, Germany. | Solo |
2004 | Ed Ruscha: Mountain Paintings | Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO | Solo |
2004 | What’s Modern? | Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2004 | Artists’ Books: No Reading Required“ | Minnesota Center nfor Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN | Group |
2004 | Fiction: Truth in Photography and Painting | Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, England | Group |
2004 | Topographies (curated by Karen Moss) | Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA | Group |
2004 | Richard Artschwager/Ed Ruscha | Leo Castelli Gallery and Brooke Alexander, New York, NY | Group |
2004 | 100 Artists See God | Jewish Museum, nSan Francisco, CA. | Group |
2004 | Pop! From San Francisco Collections | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA | Group |
2004 | Learning from Ruscha and Venturi, Scott Brown 1962-1977 | Canadian Centre for Architecture, nMontreal, Quebec, Canada. | Group |
2004 | The Sixties | Craig F. Starr Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2003 | Ed Ruscha: the drawn word | The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, FL | Solo |
2003 | Ed Ruscha Prints 1969-2003 | Godt-Clearly Gallery, Las Vegas, NV | Solo |
2003 | Photographs: Recent Acquisitions, Paintings and Sculpture | Fisher Landau Center For Art, New York, NY | Solo |
2003 | Elongated Subjects | The Bagley Wright Family Fund, The Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, WA | Solo |
2003 | Photographs | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA | Solo |
2003 | Popular, Pop & Post-pop: Color Screenprints 1930’s to Now | Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA | Group |
2003 | That 70s Print Show | Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2003 | From Here to There: Maps as Musen | Hirschl & Adler, New York, NY | Group |
2003 | 3 Degrees of Cool | Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, WA | Group |
2003 | The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, 1960-1982 | Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN. | Group |
2003 | OUTLOOK: International Art Exhibition | Athens, Greece.nBiennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon 2003, Lyon, France. | Group |
2003 | Selections from the Permanent Collection | Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX | Group |
2003 | Dust Memories | Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art, New nYork, NY | Group |
2003 | Original Prints by Univesal Limited Art Editions | Rule Gallery, Denver, CO | Group |
2003 | Retrospectacle: 25 Years of Collecting Modern & Contemporary Art | Denver Art Museum, nDenver, CO | Group |
2003 | Embracing the Present: The UBS PaineWebber Collection | The Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX | Group |
2003 | The Last Decade: Mixografia Prints & Sculptures from 1993-2003 | Remba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. | Group |
2003 | Great Drawing Show 1550-2003 | Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2002 | Ed Ruscha: Petro-plots. | Remba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2002 | With and Without Words. | Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers, Munich, Germany | Solo |
2002 | Ed Ruscha: Made in Los Angeles | Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain | Solo |
2002 | New Paintings | Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY. | Solo |
2002 | Ed Ruscha: Birds, Fish, and Offspring | C&M Arts, New York, NY | Solo |
2002 | Country Cityscapes | Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, NY | Solo |
2002 | Ed Ruscha: Paintings, Drawings and Books 1961–2001 | Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England | Solo |
2002 | Ed Ruscha | California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA | Solo |
2002 | Ed Ruscha | Galeria Andre Viana, Porto, Portugal. | Solo |
2002 | S Books, O Books, And Other Books | James Kelly Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM | Solo |
2002 | Les années 70: l’art en cause | Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France | Group |
2002 | Prints by Edward Ruscha and New Drawings by Jay Kelly | Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York | Group |
2002 | Hollywood is a Verb | Gagosian Gallery, London, England. | Group |
2002 | Ferus | Gagosian Gallery, West 24th Street, New York, NY | Group |
2002 | Self-Medicated | Michael Kohn Gallery, Inc. Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2001 | Sunliners | Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM | Solo |
2001 | NOVANTA | Galleria Il Gabbiano, Rome, Italy | Solo |
2001 | Ed Ruscha: The Mountains | Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland | Solo |
2001 | Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons: Four Decades of Art from the Broad Collections | Los Angeles nCounty Museum of Art; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. | Group |
2001 | Amused | Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL | Group |
2001 | L’Esprit de famille | Villa Du Park, Centre D’Expositions et D’Echanges, Geneva, Switzerland | Group |
2001 | Pop Art: U.S./U.K. Connections, 1956-1966. | The Menil Collection, Houston, TX. | Group |
2001 | Prints in the 20nth Century: Marui Collection | Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan | Group |
2001 | Alex Katz – Edward Ruscha | The American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy. | Group |
2001 | Evidence of Love: Romance, Desire & Fantasy | Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2001 | Les années Pop | Musee National d’art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France. | Group |
2001 | 20th Century Perspectives | John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Group |
2001 | Collaborations with Parkett: 1984 to Now | The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY | Group |
2001 | Print Matters: New Works and Modern Treasures | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA | Group |
2001 | Drawing is Another Kind of Language: Recent American Drawings from a New York Private Collection | The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI | Group |
2001 | Out of L.A. | Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, England | Group |
2001 | Art Chicago 2001 | Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NMn | Group |
2001 | Poetic Natures | Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA | Group |
2001 | Pop Impressions Europe/USA: Prints and Multiples from The Museum of Modern Art | St. Louis Art Museum, MO. | Group |
2001 | Wordscapes | Galeria Andre Vianna, Porto, Portugal | Group |
2001 | By Water: From the Personal Collection of Kerry Stokes | Museum of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. | Group |
2001 | Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism. | SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM | Group |
2001 | Painter Editions: Recent Projects | Painter Editions, Santa Monica, CA | Group |
2001 | International Offerings | Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2000 | Mountains and Highways. | Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London, England. | Solo |
2000 | Edward Ruscha: Retrospective | Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C | Solo |
2000 | Ed Ruscha: Gunpowder and Stains | Monika Sprüth-Philomene Magers, Munich,Germany | Solo |
2000 | Powders, Pressures and Other Drawings | John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA. | Solo |
2000 | Untitled | Galerie Stadtpark, Krems, Austria | Solo |
2000 | Landmark Pictures: Ed Ruscha/Andreas Gursky | Fogg Art Museum’s Sert Gallery, Cambridge, MA. | Group |
2000 | The Legacy of Corita Kent’s 1960’s Pop | Harriet & Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at nCalifornia State University, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2000 | In Color. | Orange County Museum of Art, South Coast Plaza Gallery, Newport Beach, CA | Group |
2000 | H20: A Miscellany of Works from the Kerry Stokes Collection | Perth International Arts Festival | Group |
2000 | Quotidiana | Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy | Group |
2000 | Shifting Ground: Transformed View of the American Landscape | Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, nWA. | Group |
2000 | Drive | Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand. | Group |
2000 | Urban Hymns | Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, nLos Angeles, CA. | Group |
2000 | RearView Mirror: Automobile Images on Film and American Identities | University of California, nRiverside, Riverside, CA. | Group |
2000 | How You Look At It – Photograph of the 20th Century | Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany | Group |
2000 | Group Exhibition | Denver Art Museum: Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries, Denver, CO | Group |
2000 | 2000 1/2: Going Forward Looking Back | Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. | Group |
2000 | Communicating America’s Vision: The Nevada Bell Collection | Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, nNV; Marjorie Barrick Museum, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV | Group |
2000 | Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process | The AXA Gallery, New York, NY; Boise Art nMuseum, Boise, ID; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM; Naples Museum of Art, nNaples, FL.n | Group |
2000 | Major Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture | John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Group |
2000 | Ed Ruscha: A Graphic View | Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2000 | Open Ends | The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY | Group |
2000 | The Intuitive Eye: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Collection | Art Gallery of the nFashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2000 | Out of Sight: The Image Beyond the Index | Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, England | Group |
2000 | An American Focus: The Anderson Graphic Arts Collection. | California Palace of the Legion of nHonor, San Francisco, CA; Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA; nAlbuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM. | Group |
2000 | Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity: 1900-2000 | Los Angeles County Museum of Art,nLos Angeles, CA | Group |
1970 | American Drawings | Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris | Group |
1970 | American Paintings 1970 | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA | Group |
1970 | Amerikanska Realister | Konsthallen Göteborg, Göteborg, Sweden | Group |
1970 | The Arrested Image | Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA | Group |
1970 | Artists and Photographs | Multiples, Inc., New York | Group |
1970 | California Collects | Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles | Group |
1970 | Conceptual Art and Conceptual Aspects, | The New York Cultural Center in Association with nFairleigh Dickenson University, New York | Group |
1970 | Continuum | Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA | Group |
1970 | A Decade of California Color 1960 – 1970 | The Pace Gallery, New York | Group |
1970 | Drawings 1970 | Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara. | Group |
1970 | Drawing Society National Exhibition | The American Federation nof Arts, New York | Group |
1970 | Ed Ruscha Graphics | Don Bachardy Drawings, Hansen Fuller Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Group |
1970 | 18 Paris IV | organized by Michel Claura, Paris.n | Group |
1970 | The Highway | Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, PA. | Group |
1970 | Hollywood Collects | Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles | Group |
1970 | Information | The Museum of Modern Art, New York | Group |
1970 | Joe Goode, Robert Graham, Kenneth Price, Ed Ruscha | Galerie Delta, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | Group |
1970 | Looking West | Josyln Art Museum, Omaha, NE | Group |
1970 | Seventeenth National Print Exhibition | The Brooklyn Museum, New York.n | Group |
1970 | Special Group Exhibition at Artist Studio | Venice, CA | Group |
1970 | Superlimited: Books, Boxes and Things | Jewish Museum, New York | Group |
1970 | XXXV Biennale Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Venezia | Venice, Italy | Group |
1970 | Three California Friends | Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK | Group |
1970 | The Word as Image | Jewish Museum, New York | Group |
1970 | Edward Ruscha | Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York, NY. | Solo |
1970 | Books by Edward Ruscha | Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Munich, Germany. | Solo |
1970 | Edward Ruscha /Prints 1966-1970/Books 1962- 1970. | Hansen Fuller Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Solo |
1970 | Edward Ruscha | Galerie Alexandre Iolas, Paris, France | Solo |
1969 | Drawings | The Fort Worth Art Center Museum, Fort Worth, TX. | Group |
1969 | California Drawings | Ithaca College Museum of Art, New York | Group |
1969 | Conception | Stadeischen Museum, Leverkunsen, Germany | Group |
1969 | 557,087 | Seattle Museum of Art, WA | Group |
1969 | Graphics/Six West Coast Artists | Gallery Milan/Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg, nGermany. | Group |
1969 | Handzeichnungen und Collagen | Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg, Germany | Group |
1969 | Kompas 4 | Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eidenhoven, The Netherlands | Group |
1969 | A New Look at Neo Ruralism and Something Else | Multiples, Inc., New York | Group |
1969 | 1969 Annual Exhibition/Contemporary American Painting | The Whitney Museum of American nArt, New York. | Group |
1969 | The Other City | Gallery Reese Palley, San Francisco, CA | Group |
1969 | Pop Art | Hayward Gallery, London | Group |
1969 | Series Photographs | The School of Visual Arts, New York | Group |
1969 | Small Paintings for Museum Collections | American nFederation of Arts, New York. | Group |
1969 | Tamarind; Homage to Lithography | The Museum of Modern Art, New York | Group |
1969 | Three Modern Masters: Billy Al Bengston, Edward Ruscha, Frank Lloyd Wright | Gallery Reese nPalley, San Francisco, CA. | Group |
1969 | West Coast 1945-1969 | Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA | Group |
1969 | Edward Ruscha/New Graphics | Multiples, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.n | Solo |
1969 | Edward Ruscha | Irving Blum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. | Solo |
1969 | Edward Ruscha | La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA | Solo |
1968 | Joe Goode and Edward Ruscha | Pavilion Gallery, Balboa, CA | Duo |
1968 | The California Landscape | Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Los Angeles | Group |
1968 | e40 New California Painters | Tampa Bay Art Center, Tampa, FL | Group |
1968 | Small Paintings for Museum Collections | American Federation of Arts, New York | Group |
1968 | West Coast Now | Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR | Group |
1968 | Ed Ruscha | Irving Blum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
1968 | Ed Ruscha | Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne, Germany | Solo |
1967 | 18th Salon of Young Painters | Musée d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris | Group |
1967 | 4th Annual All California Print Exhibition and New Talent in Graphics | Lytton Center of the nVisual Arts | Group |
1967 | Saô Paulo 9 | Museum de Arte Moderna, Saô Paulo, Brazil | Group |
1967 | 1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting | The Whitney Museum of American Art, New nYorkn | Group |
1967 | Gunpowder Drawings | Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York, NY | Solo |
1966 | Los Angeles Now | Robert Fraser Gallery, London | Group |
1966 | Ten From Los Angeles | Seattle Art Museum, WA | Group |
1965 | Five at Pace | Pace Gallery, New York | Group |
1965 | Ed Ruscha | Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. | Solo |
1965 | Word and Image | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York | Group |
1964 | American Drawings | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York | Group |
1964 | Collector's Show | Balboa Pavilion Gallery, Balboa, CA | Group |
1964 | Selections from the L.M. Asher Family Collection | The Art Gallery, University of New Mexico, nAlbuquerque | Group |
1964 | Ed Ruscha | Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. | Solo |
1963 | Ed Ruscha | Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
1963 | Pop Art USA | Oakland Art Museum, CA and California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA | Group |
1963 | Six More | Los Angeles County Museum of Art | Group |
1962 | Directions in Collage: California | Pasadena Art Museum. CA. | Group |
1962 | New Paintings of Common Objects | Pasadena Art Museum. CA. | Group |
1960 | Four Oklahoma Artists | Oklahoma City Art Centern | Group |
Abstrakte Fotografie | Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany |