ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN

15 / 20

*Every Building on the Sunset Strip*

Edward Ruscha. Every Building on the Sunset Strip. 1966

Artist’s book, offset printed, 7 × 5 5⁄8 × 3⁄8" (closed) (17.8 × 14.3 × 1 cm); 7" × 24' 11 1⁄2" (open). Edward Ruscha, Dick de Ruscha, Edition: 1,000. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Partial gift of the Daled Collection and partial purchase through the generosity of Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Agnes Gund, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. Photo: Jonathan
Muzikar

Artist, Ed Ruscha:  I worked for a book printer. And I learned how to set type and I began to be attracted to books and I just thought maybe there’s some possibility here for my work.

I like the aggressive architectural activity that was happening in Los Angeles at that time.

Architect, Frank Gehry: LA is spread out. Mostly it’s horizontal. When I got here, it was just postwar, so they were just building tons of tract houses all over the city. And then they started building freeways. So LA became a driving city.

Ed Ruscha: This book covers basically two and a half miles of Sunset Boulevard, and I felt like it should be recorded with no prejudice, with no agenda, and no moral. I mean, it’s just like copying something for what it is.

Frank Gehry: The Sunset Strip is where all the action is. It goes from Fairfax to Beverly Hills, and there’s a hotel, there’s nightclubs. That was where all the movie stars hung out.

Ed’s curiosity was to try to peek into it and document it. It was like the way Ed is. It’s very cool the way he represented it. There was no emotion about what goes on there. It was just, look at the Sunset Strip. There it is. It’s a bunch of stupid buildings. [Laughs]