Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, Ed Ruscha. Oil on canvas. 64 1/2 x 121 3/4 in. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; gift of James Meeker, Class of 1958, in memory of Lee English, Class of 1958, scholar, poet, athlete and friend to all. © Ed Ruscha
Ed Ruscha’s painting Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, presents a generic, or “standard,” example of roadside architecture with an emphatically frontal treatment, and it reduces both the building and the landscape to basic geometric forms. Included in Ruscha’s second solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in 1964, the painting is based on a photograph in his first artist book, Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1962). The source image is monumentalized by the transposition to oil on canvas, in particular by the addition of the three beams of light, reminiscent of Klieg lights. A plunging diagonal line, one of Ruscha’s formal trademarks, divides the canvas, almost as if the artist were offering an elementary illustration of how to render perspective. Although Ruscha’s title locates his subject in Texas, its subject matter is just as closely tied to Los Angeles’s car culture and roadside architecture.
Explore the Era
Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.
Standard Station, Amarillo Texas
Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, Ed Ruscha. Oil on canvas. 64 1/2 x 121 3/4 in. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; gift of James Meeker, Class of 1958, in memory of Lee English, Class of 1958, scholar, poet, athlete and friend to all. © Ed Ruscha
On View at the Getty Center: Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970
Ed Ruscha’s painting Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, presents a generic, or “standard,” example of roadside architecture with an emphatically frontal treatment, and it reduces both the building and the landscape to basic geometric forms. Included in Ruscha’s second solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in 1964, the painting is based on a photograph in his first artist book, Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1962). The source image is monumentalized by the transposition to oil on canvas, in particular by the addition of the three beams of light, reminiscent of Klieg lights. A plunging diagonal line, one of Ruscha’s formal trademarks, divides the canvas, almost as if the artist were offering an elementary illustration of how to render perspective. Although Ruscha’s title locates his subject in Texas, its subject matter is just as closely tied to Los Angeles’s car culture and roadside architecture.
Historic Map Locations
Styles & Materials
Time Periods & Venues
Works of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire, 1965–68, Ed Ruscha. Oil on canvas. 53 1/2 x 133 1/2 in. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972. © Ed Ruscha. Photography by Lee Stalsworth
Some Los Angeles Apartments, 1965, Ed Ruscha. Self-published book, offset lithograph, 1965 (seconding printing 1970). 7 1/16 x 5 9/16 x 1/4 in. The Getty Research Institute, 86-B19485.c2. © Ed Ruscha
Real Estate Opportunities, 1970, Ed Ruscha. Self-published book, offset lithograph. 7 1/16 x 5 5/8 x 3/16 in. Open to pages depicting 12th & Sentous (southeast corner), and 1140 E. Pico. The Getty Research Institute, 86-B19480. © Ed Ruscha
Every Building on the Sunset Strip, 1966, Ed Ruscha. Self-published book, offset lithograph, 1966 (second printing 1971). 7 1/8 x 5 3/4 x 3/8 in. Open unfolded: 7 1/8 x 297 in. The Getty Research Institute, 86-B19486.c1. © Ed Ruscha
Explore the Archive
Video: Ed Ruscha speaks about his work, April 2011
Ed Ruscha holding his book Every Building on the Sunset Strip, 1967. © Ed Ruscha. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan
Ed Ruscha's studio at 1024 3/4 N. Western Avenue in Hollywood, California, 1970. Photo by Larry Bell. Image courtesy of Billy Al Bengston
Ed Ruscha in his studio at 1024 3/4 N. Western Avenue in Hollywood, California, 1970. Image courtesy of Billy Al Bengston. Photo © Larry Bell
Ed Ruscha and Joe Goode on horseback. Exhibition catalogue cover for the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor at the Balboa Pavillion Gallery, 1968. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan