Ed Ruscha weighs in on Obamas' taste in art

 

In his early days, Ed Ruscha painted single words that packed a punch: oof, slam, smash, honk. In the ‘80s, he took a subtler approach, floating equivocal phrases in painted skies.

Consider “I Think I’ll...,” a 1983 piece that has moved into the first family’s living quarters at the White House, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The longer you look at the painting, the more words emerge from a streaky red sunset.

The phrase “I think maybe I’ll...,” in large block letters, descends from the top left to lower right of the 53 3/4 x 63 3/4-inch canvas. Conflicted fragments in smaller print — “Maybe ... yes ...,” “Wait a minute ... ! ...!,” “On second thought,” “Maybe ... no ...” — take an opposing path. The final word, “yet...,” all but slips away.

It’s hard to imagine George W. Bush living with the Ruscha. As president, he called himself “the decider” and seemed to pride himself on sticking with his decisions no matter what. But Barack Obama is not “W,” and the L.A.-based artist is delighted. 

“I hope my painting has a reverse effect on White House decisions,” Ruscha wrote in an e-mail from London, where he recently opened exhibitions at the Hayward and Gagosian galleries. “I am 1,000% behind this administration.”

Like many of Ruscha's trademark works, “I Think I’ll...” is an amusing take on human behavior that leaves lots of room for interpretation. But the painting acquired a new layer of meaning when it appeared on a recently released list of 47 artworks lent to the White House by Washington museums.

“We were all kind of tickled by the Ruscha,” said Harry Cooper, a National Gallery curator who worked on the art loan project with White House curator William Allman and the Obamas’ decorator, Michael Smith. “All those phrases about uncertainty are not ones you would necessarily associate with executive power.”

The painting was donated to the National Gallery in 1990, in honor of the institution’s 50th anniversary, by Los Angeles collector Marcia Simon Weisman. It might seem a surprising choice for the Obamas, but it’s one of 20 modern and contemporary works selected for their temporary home. Public areas of the White House are decorated with older works from the permanent collection, Allman said.

The Obamas made some relatively conservative choices, including sculptures by Edgar Degas and a painting by Winslow Homer, but they brought a fresh look with the Ruscha, as well as abstractions by Josef Albers, Leon Polk Smith, Nicolas de Stael, Sam Francis and Richard Diebenkorn and works by African American artists.

There are four brightly colored figurative paintings by William H. Johnson, an African American who died in poverty in 1970 and is now widely admired for his powerful folk art-like simplicity. “Black Like Me #2,” a 1992 work by Glenn Ligon, appears to be an abstraction, but it’s composed of a reiterated phrase from a book by John Howard Griffin, a white journalist who wrote about the painful experience of passing himself off as a black man.

All in all, the loans cover a broad range, Cooper said. “Some of the work is political. Some of it is just beautiful. There are big names and lesser-known names, older work and work by living artists — in our case, Ed Ruscha and Susan Rothenberg. All the works we lent are very strong. They are colorful, they have strong shapes, they are powerful things to live with.”
 
-- Suzanne Muchnic

Photos: "I Think I'll..." by Ed Ruscha, courtesy of the artist. "Black Like Me #2" by Glenn Ligon. Credit: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Comments

[Donald Frazell]

Please!!!Liberals are such wimps. Its a joke piece. Obama probably liked to tweek Rham Emmanuels can do nature, and hardball approach. And making fun of the wimpiness of the Left. He is a decided centrist, healthcare is the biggest domestic issues we have after this economic collapse, hardly something just of the left, though universal healthcare is obviously dead. Keeping costs in check for the middle and giving basic healthcare to children and seniors, and preventative care is all we can do. Or should.

President Obama is decidely a pragmatist, going for what can be done, not idle dreamers and whiners of the left. Life isnt perfect, and will get even less so in a belt tightening future, where we must take care of ourselves so we can help others, no freddie freeloaders. Black folks know this better than entiteled whites. The budget deficit may still ruin us. Balance is needed, in life, and art. Enough of the self absorbed cleverness of the left. Time for the knowledgable intelligent folks of the middle to clean up this mess both wings have left us.

And Ruscha represents that wing of his party, the do gooders who dont do themselves, but love to point fingers and dont realize nothing is perfect. Do the best you can, and move on. no dillydallying. Or jibberjabber. Which is Rushcas specialty, empty words.

[Tara]

poster no. 1: You're supposed to read the BLACK lines!

[Gary Arseneau]

October 15, 2009

Edgar Degas never cast in bronze.

All so-called bronzes attributed to Edgar Degas are 2nd- to 3rd-generation-removed posthumous forgeries with counterfeit "Degas" signatures applied.

The dead don't cast, much less sculpt.

The Hirshhorn is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors. The AAMD endorses the College Art Association's ethical guidelines on sculptural reproduction. In part, they state: "any transfer into new material unless specifically condoned by the artist is to be considered inauthentic or counterfeit and not acquired or exhibited as works of art."

The dead don't condone.

In closing, the Hirshhorn violates their own endorsed AAMD ethical guidelines on sculptural reproductions by exhibiting or displaying these -counterfeits- as works of art, much less loaning them to the people's White House.

We, as Americans, are being played as fools.

Gary Arseneau
artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar
Fernandina Beach, Florida

[Donald Frazell]

Who cares if they cast his clay sculptures in bronze? Its a good thing, so we can see them. Clay doesnt exactly reproduce or travel well. Are you more interested in making money or art? Screw all this orginal stuff like with the woman who copied a Matisse with a color variation, gave no credit as a Jimi Hendrix did in covering All Along the Watchtower, and selling as hers and getting defenders because "its original". NO it isnt. THATS a bad copy. Casting in bronze what was sculpted is great, now we get to see it, and the Norton Simon is the best museum in town for that reason, and others like the two great Picassos and Braques. It is very high quality, unlike Moca which is crapa and the mediocre universality of LACMA. Though I still visit Cezannes Still life with cherries eveytime there,.

art collegia delenda est

[Evelyn]

Bush is a hick.

[sean]

where exactly does Ruscha weigh in on the art collection?

[El Guapo de la cuidad de los angeles]

What? No Outsider Art??????

[cherylzone]

I think most of you have missed the point. I find it refreshing that the Obama's have chosen to display Contemporary Art in the White House.
Honestly.....can't anyone just enjoy something, and not find sinister motives in everything?

[Nobama]

So did he actually PURCHASE the art?

Or like designers at the Oscar runway, do the artists expect the pieces back when he is out our White House in 3 years?

BTW, will he please fill in the nail holes in the walls after the works are returned to their real owners?

...don't want him to jeopardize his security deposit ;)

[Gary Sanders]

Politicians are seriously overrated, just as a Ruscha. It is a crime that a completely overrated artist is hanging in the White House, who advised him on this choice? Can no one make intelligent decisions anymore? How can anyone be proud of owning a Ruscha?

[Shaithis]

pfff. Looks like a dumb ad campaign for phone service. I could easily see this on the side of a cab or bus . It's fitting for Obama though, considering he's the most inept President this country has ever seen. Hoppie's making Bush look like a genius.