edward ruscha // n.om

this is a statement i wrote for a class where i was asked to choose a contemporary artist who i would most want to create an exhibition with, partnering his (in this case, edward ruscha) work with my own and exploring new meaning, juxtapositions, the formal element of their work and mine, etc. here, i utilized my jewelry creating with n.om w/ ruscha's remarkable art work...grateful to create.

The artist I decided to coincide with for an Artist’s Project Exhibition is Los Angeles based painter, film maker and American artist Edward Ruscha. Ruscha’s work is prolific: intriguing, large in scale, captivating, clean, simple and his expression of the mundane, bizarre humor that is the life experience offers, comes through within his paintings and even more simply, in his typographic works. n.om (pronounced “gnome”) is my handmade jewelry line of sculpturally, elegant statement making earring pieces. I too attempt to communicate the bizarre beauty that is life, but in a more abstracted way. I felt Ruscha and I’s collaboration would be the ability of his work to put actual words and larger visual expanse to my jewelry pieces.

            Ruscha works mostly in large scale, his works are painterly with an almost photographic as well as a mystical quality to them. The scale and color choices, often bright Pop-Art inspired hues partnered with demur achromatic neutrals (like Sister, Brother 1987 at the New York MOMA) are a trademark of Ruscha’s work, both his iconic shadowy images, as well as his typographic paintings. Formal qualities of n.om include utilizing a large scale within our given medium (like Ruscha): the hoop earrings I create are generally 3.5 to 4 inches in diameter. They are statement pieces meant to adorn the body. I incorporate the natural with the un-natural (feathers with stainless steel hoops) or crystal work (like quartz with brass and base metal chain), much like Ruscha partners his colors: a balance of that which is opposite (bright, popping colors with achromatic neutrals) The balance of opposites with n.om is also seen in Ruscha’s work: most of his paintings are that of imagery, yet he also creates remarkable typographic sayings on canvas. The imagery needs no words to describe, as the viewer will create his or her own meaning, and yet Ruscha often partners imagery with totally, (perhaps off-the-wall) words and sayings, allowing for an entirely new meaning to be created. I also enjoy this play in my jewelry making: often the piece itself creates meaning to the viewer, whether it be the scale, materials used like feather, wire wrapping, the mixing of metals, crystals, etc., I have experimented with incorporating message into the imagery I create with the actual piece. The message could be something obvious, like utilizing actual lettered beads and creating a saying like “Only Love Is Real” or “I’m A Lover” or simply using symbolic beads, like hamsas, oms or any small amulets denoting spirituality or to be utilized as reminders to the wearer (in Ruscha’s case, the viewer).

            Ruscha’s work and my work could work together to somehow reflect the meaning of all of life: the balance of opposites, the big and the small that is our experience, the simplicity and yet the remarkable fine tuned details… whenever you view a Ruscha, you have the capability of viewing the expansive piece from afar, getting the whole picture if you will, yet you also have the opportunity to step extremely close, and look at the incredibly fine detail of his brush work, the perfect precision. n.om’s pieces are much the same: one may view the piece from afar, adorning the body, or hold it, interact, observe the fine wire work or the intricacies and uniqueness of each feather used. Collectively, the large scale of Ruscha’s work partnered with the small ritual adornments that is n.om partner up to communicate this: life is the big and the small, the fine details and the bigger picture and there is a balance to be obtained by witnessing, embracing and allowing the flow of everything.