Let's Throw A Twilight Cookout

1972–1978

Separation and divorce from Danna

In 1972 Ruscha and Danna separate, in 1976 they file for divorce and in 1978 they divorce; during the time they are apart he dates the actresses Candy Clark, Samantha Eggar, Diane Keaton, Lauren Hutton and Michelle Phillips.

late 1970s

Buys land in the desert near Pioneertown

In the late seventies he buys land about ten miles from Pioneertown, California, and later builds a house there.

from 1980

Devises his own typeface “Boy Scout Utility Modern”

From 1980 he uses an all-caps typeface of his own invention in which curved letter forms are squared off (as in the Hollywood sign); from the mid-1980s many of his paintings include black or white “blanks” or “censor strips” to suggest where the “missing” words would have been placed.