CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/6/2016

Ed Ruscha: Ribbon Words

"Okla." (1968), is reproduced from Ed Ruscha: Ribbon Words, a truly beautiful book, and the first to collect this body of work produced between 1966 and 1973. "The artist's words are sometimes literal, sometimes pun-like, sometimes cryptic, or even mystical," Glenn O'Brien writes. "When they confound they seem almost mantra-like—as a focal point for an entire field of meaning or suggestion. This effect is heightened by the carefully composed backgrounds the words rest on, or float above—backgrounds made of shadow (and by implication invisible light sources), by mists and clouds, and illuminated atmospheres. The shadows give a certain sense of solid presence and gravity, while the glowing atmospheres suggest auras—the radiance of objects charged with electromagnetic force."