Ed Ruscha is a major figure in American Pop Art, known for his works combining words, urban landscapes, and visual culture of the American West.

American artist born in Omaha in 1937, Ed Ruscha was inspired in the 1960s by Raymond Hains, René Magritte, Jasper Johns and Kurt Schwitters and became a major part of the Los Angeles art scene.

One of the essential elements of his work is the changing nature of language that he evolves according to font, color, composition, and other visual effects. The same words that obsess him are repeated over many years, they seem familiar to us and seem to belong to popular culture without ever knowing the precise reference.

His words appear on road signs, buildings, and mountains, as well as on open skies and horizons. Sometimes they are strangely present despite their disappearance. His same subjects are also repeated and combined with language to poetically evoke the changing fabric of the city through themes of evolution and destruction.

While words belong more to the field of literature and play a secondary role in art history, Ruscha places language at the center of her artistic practice, reflecting on contemporary life, especially that of Los Angeles, with candor and humor.

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