This research explores Edward Ruscha’s experimental publishing projects. It includes two accordion-fold artist books—Twentysix Views from the 7-train and Seventeen Views from the Trans-Mongolian—and a project portfolio titled (Another Book) After Ed-werd Rew-shay.
The project portfolio was written, designed and produced in one week. It includes both a synthesis of the research conducted in the MoMA archives (NYC) and a creative response to one of Ruscha’s most well-known books, 26 Gasoline Stations. It was exhibited at Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills as part of the Ed Rushca Books & Co. show (2016) and was launched with a public talk at Volume Art Book Fair (Sydney) 2015. The accordion-fold books have been exhibited at First Draft (Sydney) and UTS Library.
The work is part of a broader body of research that examines online print-on-demand platforms; however, the production of this book is unique. Created on a printing and binding machine New York City bookstore McNally Jackson, it was produced in under five minutes. A second edition is available via online service Lightning Source.
Print-on-demand technology enabled the researcher to launch Page Screen Books, a small publishing venture, in 2015. Similar small presses are mushrooming up globally. This project explores the parallel between the current small press movement and activity in the art publishing world around the time Ruscha was producing his ‘democratic multiples’ in the early 1960s and 70s.
