In 1967 Ruscha adopted a new approach to drawing. He swapped his usual graphite for a fine powder made from gunpowder pellets, which he rubbed into the paper with cotton swabs, Q-tips, and various other implements. “Mistakes were easier to cover up with gunpowder, so I used it . . . It was a more fluid and a faster medium than charcoal or graphite,” the artist later explained. He produced a large series of gunpowder drawings featuring single words or short phrases composed as if formed from bent, coiled, or folded paper ribbon. These words are occasionally combined with incongruous elements, such as a flat, zigzagging pencil or puddle of liquid.
Gallery label from ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, September 10, 2023 – January 13, 2024