That was Then This is Now

With an extensive range of works, Ed Ruscha has been creating photographic books, tounge-in-cheek photo collages, paintings, and drawings that exhibit an understanding of language and the idiosyncrasies of life in Los Angeles, where the artist has lived since the 1950s. Utilizing non-traditional materials, such as gunpowder, blood, and Pepto Bismol, Ruscha's most known works use colloquial words from American consumerist culture displayed against fields of color or photographic images.