Ed Ruscha: Industrial Strength
July 14 - October 25, 2008
Ed Ruscha, In collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Industrial Strength Sleep, 2007. Merino wool, cotton, and Trevira CS tapestry; edition of 7. 109½ x 276 inches. Price upon request.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is proud to present Ed Ruscha: INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH, the fruition of a three-year collaboration with artist Ed Ruscha. This project has been made possible by a grant from the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
The centerpiece of the show is INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SLEEP, a massive 9 by 23 foot tapestry based upon his 1989 painting of the same name. Woven at Flanders Tapestries in Belgium, the work marks a new chapter in Ruscha's storied career as his initial foray into use of fiber as a medium. The show will feature a number of Ruscha works, including the original INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SLEEP loaned by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, as well as several other loans from noted national institutions and the artist's personal collection. A catalogue, featuring essays by FWM Artistic Director Marion Boulton Stroud, Guest Curator Paul Schimmel, and Thomas Crow, a contributing editor of Artforum and the Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, has been produced in commemoration of this historic exhibition.
Ruscha's expansive canvases with their superimposed text are often associated with conceptions of West Coast landscapes as well as allusion to film and Hollywood's golden age. Though the cinematic scale is still in effect with INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SLEEP, for this project Ruscha wanted to return to an earlier work that seemed both an appropriate fit for debut in Philadelphia and for revisiting via the process of weaving. He conjured notions of East Coast industry in its mid-20th Century prime and landscapes once dotted with factories, much of which is now neglected or has vanished as a result of gentrification.
In addition, the piece itself is quite literally the industrial product of a modern business that has integrated computer-assisted weaving technology with traditional aesthetics of the medium. No longer just a luxury ornament and symbol of princely power commissioned by European royalty, contemporary artists have embraced tapestry as another means for expanding the possibilities of their creative output. With this collaboration, Ed Ruscha and FWM have put themselves at the forefront of this constantly growing trend.
About Ed Ruscha
Ed Ruscha is a world-renowned American artist who works with an array of media, including paint, print, photography, video, food and other household items, and now, fiber. After moving to Los Angeles and graduation from Chouinard Art Institute, Ruscha first gained widespread attention with his inclusion among other Pop Artists in the genre-defining "New Paintings of Common Objects" show in 1962 at the Pasadena Art Museum. In 1973 he was included among other well-known contemporary artists shown at the influential Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. Ruscha has since been the subject of traveling retrospectives shown at museums all over the globe, including The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1982, The Centre Georges Pompidou in 1989, and The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2000. At present he continues to be active as ever, having represented the United States in the 2005 Venice Bienniale, as well as working on numerous upcoming projects. He currently shows his work with Gagosian Gallery in New York, Beverly Hills, and London.
About Paul Schimmel
Paul Schimmel has served as the Chief Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) since 1990. He has organized, or co-organized numerous exhibitions, and written for their accompanying publications, including such recent shows as Robert Rauschenberg: Combines, the most complete survey of the artist's Combine work ever mounted, and © MURAKAMI, a retrospective exhibition of the work of Takashi Murakami. He has also served as a National Endowment for the Arts panelist and was a recent recipient of the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Curatorial Excellence.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is the only museum of its kind, offering internationally renowned artists the resources to create new work in experimental materials. Artists come from all media-including sculpture, installation, video, painting, ceramics, and architecture-and use FWM's facilities and technical expertise to create works of art that they could not create on their own. Research, construction, and fabrication occur on-site in studios that are open to the public, providing visitors with the opportunity to see works of art from conception to completion. FWM's permanent collections include not only complete works of art, but also material research, samples, prototypes, and photography and video of artists making and speaking about their work. Access to the creative process provides visitors with a point of entry into understanding challenging works of contemporary art. FWM offers an unparalleled experience to the most significant artists of our time, students, and the general public.
FWM Exhibitions and Programs Admission: $3 for Adults, Children under 12 and FWM Members for Free. Group tours available by appointment.
Hours: Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat.–Sun., 12 noon to 4 p.m.
The programs of The Fabric Workshop and Museum are supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts; The Judith Rothschild Foundation; Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; National Endowment for the Arts; Miller-Plummer Foundation; LLWW Foundation; U. S. Institute of Museum and Library Services; Nimoy Foundation; The Arcadia Foundation; Claneil Foundation; Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro; Independence Foundation; The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation; Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation; The Henry Luce Foundation matching gifts program; The Barra Foundation; LEF Foundation; Louis N. Cassett Foundation; Quaker Chemical Foundation; and the Board of Directors and members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
For more information, please contact Jeffrey Bussman, Assistant to the Directors, at 215-561-8888 ext. 229
jeff@fabricworkshopandmuseum.org.
For general information, call 215-561-8888.
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