Artist, Ed Ruscha: I was so impressed by this perspective of this trademark of Fox Studios. I liked movies anyway, and the idea of a subject matter that came from movies appealed to me.
Designer, Gail Anderson: That logo, with big, connected shadows attached to it, just feels like this monolith. You’ve got the lights behind going in all directions and you’ve got the sky. You’re looking at it from below and you start to see this logo sort of turning. I hear dun-duh-duh-duh, and the lights are down and the popcorn’s out.
Artist, Ed Ruscha: I like the idea that there are implied trumpet sounds without seeing any trumpets. It was sort of a blasting, noisy image and represented the anxiety of the place I was living. Coming to Hollywood from Oklahoma was a big jump. I was coming from some place that was rather placid and farm-like, to something that was loaded with some sort of neurotic anxiety.
Architect, Frank Gehry: If you lived here, you couldn’t avoid it. I think Ed was making a commentary. Everybody sees the frontal version, but hey, look at what this mess looks like behind.
Artists tend to build on the life they’re in, and so it was all about LA, Hollywood, movies. And as an artist, Ed, I think, found inspiration in that.
Audio courtesy Acoustiguide and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago