Edward Ruscha : Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings: Volume Seven: 2004-2011

This sixth volume of Edward Ruscha: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings documents the 227 paintings, and studies for paintings, made between 1998 and 2003. Though a number of these works refer in some degree to Ruscha''s output of the past two decades, the period inaugurates two major series--the "Metro Plots," which diagram streets in Los Angeles and American cities, and the celebrated "Mountain" paintings. A third series, loosely grouped, takes books as its subject. This period is also notable for the appearance of the first of the "Course of Empire" paintings, with which the artist would represent the United States at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005. As in previous volumes, included are numerous documentary photographs, a selection of Ruscha''s sketchbook pages, and complete bibliographic references and exhibition histories.

This seventh volume in the ongoing documentation of Ed Ruscha’s (born 1937) entire corpus of paintings covers the years 2004 to 2011, comprising 230 paintings and studies that are reproduced in color and accompanied by detailed exhibition and bibliographic histories. The work of this period extends various earlier series, including Ruscha’s “mountain” paintings, a number of which now incorporate texts from Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road. Other important works take decay, waste and retrieval and the passage of time as themes, notably the Course of Empire series (Ruscha’s contribution to the 51st Venice Biennale) and the Psycho Spaghetti Western paintings.

This 550-page volume, copublished by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, is edited by Robert Dean with Lisa Turvey and includes essays by Thierry de Duve and Linda Norden. Each volume of the catalogue has a stitched binding and a cloth cover with silver-colored embossing protected by a printed slipcase.