Ed Ruscha

NEW YORK – Craig F. Starr Associates, located at 5 E 73rd Street in Manhattan, will open Edward Ruscha Standard Stations on February 24 - April 16, 2005. The show will include a complete set of screeprints of Ruscha's four Standard Station images as well as a first edition of Ruscha's groundbreaking artist's book Twenty Six Gasoline Stations from 1963. The gallery is open Tuesday thru Saturday, 11AM - 5:30PM.

Ed Ruscha is a renowned American Pop and Conceptual artist who often combines witty wordplay with sleek imagery. Ruscha's work has been numerous museum exhibitions, including a recent retrospective of his graphic works at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The Standard Station is one of Ruscha's most enduring and popular motifs. Edward Ruscha Standard Stations traces the various forms this motif has taken over the course of Ruscha's career.

Ruscha achieved success in 1963 when he printed the artist's book Twenty-six Gasoline Stations. These stations along Route 66 between Los Angeles and Ruscha's native Oklahoma City capture the American Southwestern landscape in the first half of the 20th century. From the success of Twenty-six Gasoline Stations, Ruscha went on to immortalize a particular gas station from Amarillo, Texas in his 1966 screenprint Standard Station. He then returned to the Standard Station in 1969, creating Double Standard, Mocha Standard, and Cheesemold Standard with Olive. All four of these prints, including a rare early trial proof, will be featured in the show.