Ed Ruscha Then & Now

Thru Apr. 24

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has mounted an important exhibition, Ed Ruscha Then & Now: Paintings From The 1960s and 2000s. Ruscha ranks as a major pop and conceptual visual artist for whom the landscape of Los Angeles is a recurring theme, as are the subjects of commercialization and popular media. The work is so Southland. Some of Ruscha’s paintings from the ’60s — when he caught the eye of the art world by combining image and text — will be exhibited alongside more recent art from the 2000s. In these two disparate periods, he provided a unique commentary about vernacular culture through strategic placement of words and visuals. MCASD now owns 30 works by Ruscha, including “Brave Men of La Jolla” (1995-1996), which is sited outdoors. 858.454.3541, mcasd.org DARLENE G. DAVIES

The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire: Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972 © Ed Ruscha, Photo by Cathy Carver Ace: Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum purchase in memory of Lois Person Osborn © Ed Ruscha Site of a Former Telephone Booth: Collection of Joan & Irwin Jacobs; Promised gift to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego © Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha Then & Now