Pool

1966

“Every Building on the Sunset Strip” is published

A book of continuous photographs of a two-and-a-half-mile stretch of the 24-mile Sunset Boulevard.

1966

“Los Angeles Now” in London — his first European exhibition

Ruscha is included in “Los Angeles Now” at the Robert Fraser Gallery in London, his first European exhibition.

1967–1970

Self-imposed exile from painting: gunpowder and graphite drawings

During a period of self-imposed exile from painting (1967–1970) he makes gunpowder and graphite drawings: single words in a trompe l'oeil technique, as if formed from ribbons of curling paper.

1970

The “Chocolate Room” at the Venice Biennale

Ruscha represents the United States at the Venice Biennale as part of a survey of American printmaking with an on-site workshop, and constructs “Chocolate Room”: 360 sheets of paper permeated with chocolate hang like shingles on the gallery walls, and the pavilion smells like a chocolate factory. In 2003 the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles acquires the installation (then worth about $1.5 million).

February 1973

First solo exhibition at Leo Castelli

His first solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York opens — the gallery he has been with since 1970.

1983

First retrospective at SFMOMA

The long series of museum retrospectives begins: the exhibition at SFMOMA travels on to the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.