Edward Ruscha

"L.A. Restaurants" opens with a panned shot recorded while driving past Cole's P.E. Buffet in downtown Los Angeles, which was founded in 1908 and claims to be the oldest restaurant and bar in the city. In a manner reminiscent of the typological catalogues of gas stations and buildings on the Sunset Strip first explored in his seminal artist's books of the 1960s, Ruscha documents sixty-four restaurants emblematic of "Old Hollywood" across the LA region. This visual perambulation moves in a spiral formation, from the outer limits of the San Fernando Valley along Ventura Boulevard to the centrally located restaurants near Culver City.

Open details →

Los Angeles-based artist Ed Ruscha’s 1975 short film Miracle centers on a day in the life of an auto mechanic (played by artist Jim Ganzer), who has a transformative experience while working on the engine of a Ford Mustang. Actress and singer Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas plays his love interest. Since the 1960s, Ruscha has received extensive critical acclaim for his paintings, photographs, drawings, and books exploring the commercial vernacular of Los Angeles—its graphic signage, architecture, and even parking lots. In effect, his work subtly comments on America’s cultural and socioeconomic evolution in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Miracle is one of only two films made by the artist in the 1970s. – Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Kelly Shindler, Associate Curator

Open details →

A man enjoys the salad days.

Open details →

This rare foray into filmmaking by the iconic California visual artist opens with Mason Williams, the composer of "Classical Gas" solemnly making himself a drink on a hillside patio at dusk as if performing an incantation. Heavy reverb on the soundtrack amplifies every sound until he sits down to read through a stack of Ruscha's photography books, Twentysix Gas Stations, Some Los Angeles Apartments, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, etc. In an over-the-shoulder shot, we see each page of each book as Mason flips through them, briefly contemplating what he sees and reading any available text as a kind distanced recitation. Mason punctuates this seeming solemnity with moments of irreverence, manhandling, at times, these limited edition art objects as if they were toss away shopping catalogs as he presses on with his appointed task

Open details →

With his signature circular glasses and mustache, Michael Chow is an exuberant force at the crossroads between eccentricity and sophistication. The famed restaurateur defined “The Moment” with the openings of Mr. Chow, the bustling upscale Chinese eateries that attracted the glitterati of Swingin’ London, 70s Hollywood, and post Studio 54 New York.

Open details →

A remarkable walk through the life and work of the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), one of the most important creators of the 20th century, revolutionary of arts, aesthetics and pop culture.

Open details →

Commissioned by The Getty Museum on the occasion of their 2019 Getty Medal to the painter, draftsman, photographer, and bookmaker, Ed Ruscha. Utilizing The Getty Research Institute's preservation and digitization of over a million images from Ed's Streets of Los Angeles photo series, and excerpts from Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," this film puts together two of Ed's major inspirations: Kerouac's text and the city of Los Angeles.

Open details →

A short film which debuted in a secret location in London to coincide with the release of the NikeCraft x Tom Sachs Mars Yard Overshoe

Open details →

A series of interviews with artists, photographers and Factory superstars who worked and socialized with Andy Warhol.

Open details →

A documentary chronicling the filmmaking career of Dennis Hopper.

Open details →

Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles on the occasion of their 2016 Gala event, 'Ed Ruscha: Buildings and Words' traces two recurring themes in the artist's 60-year oeuvre.

Open details →