During an assignment, I picked up Phaidon’s Ed Ruscha (pron. roo-shay, thanks Prof. Bousquet!) by Richard D. Marshall. Beyond amazing, the book is brilliant, is packed with color photos of Ruschas work and work of comparable artists in various themes (Jenny Holzer, Dali, etc). The commentary and critique is readable and informative, and overall a fascinating book. In the chapter on Ruscha’s experiments with words, they have printed a list of well…words…that Ruscha used in art from 1959-1972. Of the 400+ words, only a few are duplicated, and some are more than one word. It’s a great list to just grab an idea from and just run with it. I’m posting the list for my own reference, and if it’s useful to you, check out the book itself available from ODU’s Art Library, or at Amazon.com.

1959

Edward Ruscha
Dublin

1960

Dublin
Vicksburg
Sweetwater
items

1961

Metropolitain
hotel
boss
ace
Etoile
Espana
comics
paramount
boulangerie
par avion
calce
Anna
Annie
bad news
Maja

1962

20th Century Fox
Fisk
honk
ace
gas
oof
Dublin
Annie
spam
radio
war surplus
service
ice
steak
Schwitters
Ford
hotel
rah

1963

noise
smash
flash
Standard
hey
space
electric
motor
room
fuck
automatic
cut
look
radio
jelly
blank
Paris
also
great

1964

damage
radio
Standard
boss
honk
hey
smash
lawyer
electric
scream
won’t
1964
voltage
jelly
dinple
business
wolf
explosion
book
bull
English drama
age

1965

fats
Annie
Nicholas Wilder
German
Standard
Heavy Industry
church
foo
N.Y.
Belladonna
mud
chaw
gag
fist
pie
box
yet
salt
pep

1966

Charlie
pussy
stardust
pansy
business
Eri
piano
des Artes
lisp
unique
judge
cherish
punk
automatic
important developments
cherry
heart attack
sin
Ed Ruscha
respect
sure
surrealism
liquids
chemical
glass
jazz

1967

Annie
Las Vegas
unique
eye
Oklahoma
Chinese proverb
cherry
city
salt
chop
rob
Tulsa
strip
lisp
major surgery
1984
l’amour
self
bull
so
wax
cry
sin
pee pee
tee tee
wee wee
optics
western
fire
arc
heart attack
dude
oilman
face it
sticky situation
grapes
soda
uncle
city
screws and eggs
injury
rooster
engine
eye infection
vista bonita
poach
squirt
pool
oily
ruin
juice
wanze
Nashville
flood
29
promise
trust
rustic pines
water
flaw
dusty
quit
automatic
opera singer
opera
crackerjack
rancho
corn
cherry
3 forks
trophy
sky town
slug
desire
ripe
adios
vaseline
oil
pressures
surgical
engineer
jelly
sauce
sanitary

1968

sin
gush
lisp
frog
eye
western
fly
corn
clock
stuff
adios
apology
order
Okla.
fatlip
cut lip
trailer
45°
pool
slap
city
gem
itch
so
slay
steel
U
rancho
mint
oily
Billy
Hollywood
ruby
hydraulic
lawn
suspension
voice

1969

dew
adios
music
ruby
raw
soup
Hollywood
poetry
eye
hey
cut
sin
city
mint
carp
Annie
rodeo
air
zoo
ooo
anchovy
Standard
desire
stains
west

1970

fog
wax
also
hey
pig
who
pills
soup
Hollywood
rain
eye
motor
L.A.
oxides
kooks
S
Q
cement
hog
palm
lost
honk
egg
suds
vapor
western
gauze
rot
1984
cycle
policy
noise
mouse
water
stains
fuel
warm
this that
protein
oval
air
loss
jelly
ultra
cream
business
rodeo
me
office
rooster
pools
sub
pressures
news
mews
pews
brews
stews
dues
sin
lisp
ooo

1971

eye
base
1970
pudding
ding
pud
fly
adios
automatic
L.A.
film
book
chalk
pressures
ash
surgical
day
circuit
city
flee
satin
broadcast
fats
papers
foil
vaseline
roughly
liquids
grease
knee
well
spent
Hollywood
spoil
royal
space
adults
articles
sugar
volume
arc
toxic
jelly
soil
pure poetry
vanishing cream
baby cakes
vapor
upset
fever
rut
oxides
Made in California
drops
raw
I’m amazed
well, roughly

1972

vanish
use
room
focus