I've come across Ed Ruscha a few times in art school, interestingly enough, in different contexts - as a painter and as a photographer. Number 37 in Michael Bierut's 79 Short Essays on Design happens to be titled Ed Ruscha: When Art Rises to the Level of Graphic Design. (I'll let it slide, I suppose, that Bierut seems to assume art is lesser than graphic design?). I was interested to see what Bierut had to say about this relationship. He begins by explaining that artists borrowing from design is not a new or uncommon thing - he mentions Georges Braque, Jasper Johns, and Jenny Holzer among others. The distinction he makes with Ruscha, however, is about his understanding and sympathetic treatment of typography: "perfectly drawn, used with intelligence and passion".
He also discusses how Ruscha began publishing, early and often.
When he produced Twenty Six Gasoline Stations Ruscha sold 400 copies - at a loss - for $3 each. Ruscha wanted "to be the Henry Ford of book making" and confessed "it is almost worth the money to have the thrill of seeing four hundred identical books stacked next to you" - a sentiment which I hope soon to be able to experience firsthand.
In his essay, Bierut doesn't seem to come to any conclusions about the relationship between art and design, a difficult feat it would have been in only about 500 words, but he does explain his admiration for Ruscha, and has rekindled mine.
Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, Princeton Architectural Press, (May 31) 2007
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