Twentysix gasoline stations 1967
©
All rights reserved
Ed Ruscha 1967 United States
Ed RUSCHA
American 1937–
published by Ed Ruscha, Los Angeles, 2nd edition
artist’s book: photo-offset lithographs, [48] pages, paper cover, stitched and glued binding, edition of 500
17.9 x 14.1 x 0.5 cm (closed)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Robert Rooney through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2009
Endless Present - Robert Rooney and Conceptual Art
NGV International
Friday 12 November 2010 to Sunday 27 March 2011
This exhibition presents a selection of conceptual photographs and artists’ books produced in Melbourne and internationally during the 1960s and 1970s. The works reveal an interest in ideas or concepts rather than in the physical form of the work. They also display a fascination with serial-based practice and the everyday – the ‘endless present’ of daily existence.
The exhibition will feature the work of Robert Rooney, Ed Ruscha, Sol LeWitt and others. It provides an opportunity to view rare and significant conceptual works by key international artists, and to examine the transmission of these works and ideas to Melbourne.
The majority of works on display in Endless Present have been gifted to the NGV by the artist and writer Robert Rooney. Rooney began collecting Australian and international materials related to conceptual art in the 1960s, through galleries, artists, and via mail order. Many of these publications and artworks had not made their way to Australia at the time when Rooney was collecting them, and many are rarely seen here today.
