Twentysix Gasoline Stations

1961

Seven months in Europe with his mother and brother

He travels through Europe for seven months with his mother and brother, coming upon more works by Johns and Rauschenberg, R. A. Bertelli's “Head of Mussolini” and “Ophelia” by Sir John Everett Millais. The photographs from this trip mark the start of his photography.

1962

“New Painting of Common Objects” in Pasadena

Ruscha takes part, with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Dowd, Phillip Hefferton, Joe Goode, Jim Dine and Wayne Thiebaud, in “New Painting of Common Objects” at the Pasadena Art Museum, curated by Walter Hopps. It is regarded as one of the first Pop Art exhibitions in America.

1963

“Twentysix Gasoline Stations” is published

The first of sixteen small artist's books produced between 1962 and 1978; the photographic books present precisely what their titles describe.

1963

First solo exhibition at Ferus Gallery

His first solo exhibition takes place at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, around which a group of artists has gathered, among them Robert Irwin, John Altoon, John McCracken, Larry Bell, Ken Price and Edward Kienholz.

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.

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).