Ed Ruscha
American, b. 1937

LAND USE, 2022
Acrylic on linen

 

In LAND USE, artist Ed Ruscha enlarges the words “LAND” and “USE” and places them on their own horizon lines, casting long shadows that stretch across the canvas. The stark white words are stenciled on the almost earthy background of raw linen, their letters taking on a topography of their own. However, the words themselves do not sit uniformly straight; they rise above and dip below their horizon lines.

While “land use” is a common term primarily used in agriculture or real estate, Ruscha deliberately separates the two words, creating physical as well as conceptual space between them.

Partial Museum purchase with funds from the Beaux Arts Society Fund for Acquisitions, and the Carolyn A. Hill and Pauline Morrison Ledbetter Collections Endowments; Partial promised gift of Ed and Danna Ruscha

Visual Description: This is a painting, roughly 2 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide, on a raw linen canvas. In the upper left corner is the word ‘LAND’ and in the lower right corner is the word ‘USE,’ both stenciled on with white paint and capitalized. Each word sits on horizontal lines and casts long, dark shadows that extend across the canvas in different directions.