Published for "Ed Ruscha: Road Tested", Modern Art Museum of Fort Woth
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about Ed Ruscha is Gas Station. I see him pulling into a Sunoco or Chevron… driving a ’56 Chevy, the kind Dennis Wilson and James Taylor drove in the movie Two Lane Blacktop… or a 1970 Dodge Challenger, the one that Barry Newman drove in the movie Vanishing Point. The station also turns out to be a place on the radio and then a place in a painting. The painting is a gas. The station on the radio is a classical gas. All three places is an octane of pop minimalism, abstraction and realism. What am I talking about? What am I listening to? And most important, what’s in front of me right between the space of my outstretched arms… “Do you see what I see?” asks the deejay. Ed, with his elbow out the window and his eyes checking the rearview mirror… answering, mutters something underneath his breath, “I can only guess”.
Published in Lotus Magazine, October 5, 2011
STATE OF THE ART
1. What are you working on right now?
I'm writing a memoir called Tell Me Everything and I've just published a book titled, Catcher In The Rye.
2. What is the issue, exactly, that you' re exploring?
Becoming a Naturist, or a “nudist” as it's commonly referred to...
3. For how long have you been busy with this issue?
I haven't started, but when I do, I'll show you pictures on my daughter’s tumblr page.
4. What inspires you? Lord Buckley, Lindsey Buckingham and polygamy.
5. What kind of response should your work provoke? Agreement
6. When will you be finished with this piece, and where will we see it?
What piece? You mean the piece I would like everyone to agree on? I'll probably put it out under a pseudonym, so chances are, if you see it, someone else will the get the credit.
7. What' s your mental and emotional state right now?
What kind of fucked up stupid ass idiotic question is that?
8. What do you eat when relaxing, away from work? Today, for example.
Who says I relax? I eat a lot of Tums.
9. How do you dress when going to your studio? Today, for example.
I told you...I'm trying to get undressed.
10. Are there any days when you forget about work?
Are you kidding? My birthday!
Published for "Miroslav Tichy", International Center of Photography, NY
I came across Tichy’s work in a book I found in a store on Bond St. in NYC, two three years ago. At first I didn’t know what I was looking at. I didn’t know I was looking at photos that had been thrown on the floor and walked on by their taker and scratched and gnawed and peed on by the taker’s cat.