Provenance
Annely Judd, London
Gagosian Gallery, New York
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Sotheby's, New York, Contemporary Art Part II, 16 November 1995, lot 371
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Catalogue Essay
Ruscha’s use of text is iconic. Executed in 1972, this particular lot features a single
word, Spots, in a carefree style levitating from the centre of the piece
against a smoky, monochromatic atmosphere. Despite the small-scale of the text,
Spots demonstrates the agency possessed by a single word, thus inviting
the spectator to view words as images and read images as words. Through his
laconic aesthetic, Ruscha investigates the complex debate on the function of
words and the evasive interplay between image and word.

Ruscha’s particular interest in the ambiguity between the linguistic signifier and the
concept signified is emphasised by his deliberate choice of words and phrases.
When asked about his inspiration he stated: "I am observing that these words,
which sometimes represent objects and meanings, are made of these squiggly
little forms we call an alphabet." (Rachel Cooke, Ed Ruscha: There's room for
saying things in bright shiny colours, The Guardian, September 2010). Spots illustrates
Ruscha’s extensive experimentation with the pictorial and the vernacular while
blurring the distinctions between words and images by isolating and recombining
them in a singular manner.

Ruscha’s artistic training is rooted in commercial art and at the beginning was
associated with Pop art. In 1956 he moved from his natal town of Nebraska to
Los Angeles where he was exposed to the work of Jasper Johns, Robert
Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein. Since the early 1960s, he has been regularly
experimenting with the depiction of words alluding to popular culture and
every-day life in Los Angeles. This interest in words ultimately provides him
with his core inspirational theme. The non-painterly body of work that Ruscha
developed between 1963 and 1975 created the intrinsic value that was later
further developed, alongside Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holser, in the use of
entire phrases in his works that marked the distinctive characteristic of
post-Pop Art.
Artist Biography
Ed Ruscha
American • 1937
Quintessentially American, Ed Ruscha is an L.A.-based artist whose art, like California itself, is both geographically rooted and a metaphor for an American state of mind. Ruscha is a deft creator of photography, film, painting, drawing, prints and artist books, whose works are simultaneously unexpected and familiar, both ironic and sincere.

His most iconic works are at turns poetic and deadpan, epigrammatic text with nods to advertising copy, juxtaposed with imagery that is either cinematic and sublime or seemingly wry documentary. Whether the subject is his iconic Standard Gas Station or the Hollywood Sign, a parking lot or highway, his works are a distillation of American idealism, echoing the expansive Western landscape and optimism unique to postwar America.
View More Works

15

Ed Ruscha

Spots

1972
gunpowder, pastel and graphite
29 x 73.7 cm (11 3/8 x 29 in.)
Initialled, titled and dated.

Estimate
£180,000 - 250,000

Sold for £230,500

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Evening Sale

London Auction 2 July 2014 7pm

1
David Ostrowski
F (Gee Vaucher)
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ♠†
Sold for £170,500
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2
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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3
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £842,500
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4
Lucien Smith
Boys Don't Cry
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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5
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £602,500
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6
Mark Bradford
An Opening On The Left
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £698,500
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7
Sterling Ruby
SP33
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 †
Sold for £542,500
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8
Richard Prince
My Life as a Weapon
Estimate £550,000 - 750,000 ‡
Sold for £680,500
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9
Andy Warhol
Self-Portrait
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,882,500
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10
Damien Hirst
Lucy
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £290,500
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11
This lot is no longer available.
12
Antony Gormley
Domain XI (Freefall)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠
Sold for £182,500
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13
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £812,500
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14
Gilbert & George
Tree Jesus
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £86,500
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15
Ed Ruscha
Spots
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £230,500
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16
Anselm Kiefer
Alexandria
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Robert Morris
Untitled (Brown Felt)
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £158,500
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19
Robert Mangold
Column Structure XXII A
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
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20
Ed Ruscha
Reef
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
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21
Ai Weiwei
Marble Chair
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £92,500
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22
Zhang Huan
Family Tree
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £206,500
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23
Adriana Varejão
A Grande Curva
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £422,500
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24
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠
Sold for £122,500
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25
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £164,500
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26
Mark Flood
Mineral
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡
Sold for £86,500
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27
Ashley Bickerton
Stratified Landscape #3
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £43,750
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28
Alex Hubbard
Rockaway One
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
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29
KAWS
Projector
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £98,500
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Contemporary Evening Sale

London Auction 2 July 2014 7pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Ed Ruscha

15

Ed Ruscha

Spots

Contemporary Evening Sale

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