Artists' Books, Altered Books, & Book Art (Tri-Co): Ruscha, Ed

DIRTY BABY is a provocative "trialogue" between the paintings of Ed Ruscha, the music of Nels Cline, and the poems of David Breskin. The title comes from the idea that when different art forms mate, the resulting offspring is no purebred but rather a wonderfully dirty and lovable mutt. The book is divided into two "sides" in the manner of a vinyl record: Side A offers a time-lapse history of Western Civilization; Side B charts the American misadventure in Iraq. SC Copy

Accordion- folded strip of continuous paper that extends to 27 feet showing both sides of the street, with buildings, intersections, and signs viewed as if driving down the street. HC, BMC, and SC Copies

Los Angeles-based artist Ed Ruscha, one of the seminal American artists of the past 30 years, is known for taking elements from the visual language of advertising and commercial art: he has made hundreds of 'word' prints, drawings and paintings that exhibit an interplay between bold letters and softly shaded, atmospheric backgrounds. This book reproduces close to 600 'word' artworks by Ruscha, all of which characterize his artistic scope and identity. Assembled together in the form of a thick block, making the book and art 'object' in itself, these images become a sort of novel without an obvious plot: a series of words with no narrative but, rather, with a life of their own. BMC Copy