Ed Ruscha, Raymond Pettibon

Jointly Present Print Series

Worcester Exhibit Runs Through May 27

2c The End…

Raymond Pettibon/Ed Ruscha, “The End — State 1,” 2003, three-color lithograph, courtesy of Hamilton Press.

2c PR SAFE…

Raymond Pettibon/Ed Ruscha, “Safe,” 1999, two-color five-sided lithograph, courtesy of Hamilton Press.

MUST RUN 5-4

ED RUSCHA, RAYMOND PETTIBON JOINTLY PRESENT PRINT SERIES w/2 cuts

Avv/gs set 4-26 #697757

WORCESTER, MASS. — The Worcester Art Museum presents “Ed Ruscha/Raymond Pettibon: The Holy Bible and The End,” on view through May 27 in the Contemporary Gallery.

This exhibition brings together Ed Ruscha and Raymond Pettibon, two major contemporary artists who, as individuals, explore the associations of images and words. The project represents their recent collaborative work on two print series, “The Holy Bible” and “The End,” printed under the auspices of master printer Ed Hamilton at Hamilton Press, Venice, Calif.

Besides 33 collaborative lithographs (including all 27 color trial proofs of “The End” with texts by Pettibon on each), the exhibition will include drawings, prints, and a zine (self-published and photocopied books) by Pettibon. and prints, altered books and paintings by Ruscha.

Due to his long-term familiarity with both California-based artists, Hamilton was aware of the respect each had for the other and the similarity of their conceptual approaches. Several years after their first collaboration, “Safe,” 1999, Hamilton discovered a series of drawings that Pettibon had completed on the theme of “The End” and the Holy Bible. Coincidentally, these were also themes that had long interested Ruscha.

In the collaboration that unfolded, Ruscha provided the images and Pettibon the texts. In this layered process, the artists responded to themes and issues that intrigue and inspire both of them — issues of mortality, social absurdities, literature and its relation to the visual arts and popular culture.

An influential voice over the past four decades in American painting, Ruscha (b 1937) is also one of contemporary art’s most important graphic artists. From his earliest artist books and prints made in the 1960s to his most recent projects, Ruscha and his art epitomize both the tenets of Pop and Conceptual art with their reliance on combinations of text, image and idea, and the culture of Los Angeles with its close connections to popular culture, Hollywood, and the movie industry.

Pettibon (b 1957) and his art have come to represent Los Angeles and its subcultures to many cultural critics. Pettibon grew up in a Southern California beach town and his seminal album covers and posters for punk rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s established his position as a figurative artist dealing with raw and often deviant combinations of popular culture (for example, comic books, film and TV, politics, religion, sex and sports).

Fascinated with the relationships between word and images, the textural and the visual, both Ruscha and Pettibon examine the congruencies and disparities between high and low art and culture.

This exhibition was organized by Pomona College Museum of Art and curated by Rebecca McGrew. A catalog with essays by Dave Hickey and Ed Hamilton accompanies the exhibition and is available in The Museum Shop. Funding for the Worcester presentation includes generous support from the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund. Other support provided by Worcester Magazine.

The museum is at 55 Salisbury Street. For information, www.worcesterart.org or 508-799-4406.