PRESS RELEASE
This exhibition of Ed Ruscha’s early books is an homage to his first presentation of artists’ books at Galerie Heiner Friedrich in Munich 45 years ago (exhibition dates: March 17 to April 4, 1970) and to Henry T. Hopkins, (1928–2009), an eminent museum director, curator, and educator, who played a leading role in establishing the Los Angeles art scene in the 1960s and 1970s. The current exhibition showcases Ruscha’s extraordinary books, all those published before 1978, plus a collection of the first 17 books. Several are intimately inscribed to Hopkins. The original catalogue from the 1970 show is on display, together with documents and ephemera related to Ruscha’s books. Also included is the more recent On the Road, published by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl in 2010, a book on the 1957 classic novel of the same title by Jack Kerouac, in which Ruscha added black and white images (his own and other people’s) to the original text.
