Back to the Drawing Board: Ed Ruscha 1956 – 68

Abstract

This dissertation considers Ed Ruscha’s work through the theoretical lens of tacit knowledge, thereby making the argument that the commercial artist’s drawing board, and the world that it embodies, constitutes the material and conceptual framework of his 1960s art. Educated at Los Angeles’s Chouinard Art Institute, where he studied advertising design from 1956–60, Ruscha received extensive instruction in all aspects of two-dimensional design, from layout to typography. As he began to pursue a fine art career, the mechanics and methods of drawing board production became a model for art making as reflective upon and transformative of the designed world. It was through his drawing board methods that Ruscha addressed foundational concerns of post World War II art, such as the nature of the picture plane, art’s relationship to consumer culture, the workings of vision and perception, and the mechanics of printed matter. Alongside histories of the avant-garde and mass culture, the dissertation proposes a new narrative of Ruscha’s art, from the point of view of practice and in regard to the technical skills and conceptual operations of mid-century design. The dissertation concludes with a reflection on the history lessons and contemporary relevance of Ruscha’s work.