Insect Slant

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In a telling statement about his work in the 1970s, Edward Ruscha suggested how paintings of words can be a form of realism: “words were like flowers in a vase; I just happened to paint words like someone else paints flowers.” The artist delights in working with common phrases drawn from popular movies or overheard conversations, taking subject matter directly from the world around him, not unlike a painter of still lifes. For Ruscha, text also functions as both language and image. The artist apprenticed with a typesetter while in college, he initially pursued a career as a graphic designer, and he has incorporated fonts of his own creation into his artworks. He often aims for a look that is plainly straightforward, yet with a hint of cleverness that invites viewers to make their own interpretations.