This study examines the work of Ed Ruscha (1937-present) and his relationship with the Ferus Gallery that vigorously promoted pop art in the western parts of the US throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Ruscha is a conceptual artist and recognized as an iconic figure in the history of LA pop art. His earlier works formed an organic relationship with the southern Californian area. He chose objects from the elements of pop culture, and worked on a wide array of media including painting, photography, artist books and film. By the 1960s, Ruscha has acquired a status as a significant, influential figure as a pop artist, photographer and conceptual artist. In the 1970s, he exhibited his works at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, expanding his influence to the east coast. But it was not until 2004 that his retrospective was held at the New York Whitney Museum. Before that, he was mostly known as an artist based in LA both geographically and in terms of his work. Indeed his better known work was created in LA, especially in the early days. Raised in Oklahoma, Ruscha moved to LA in 1956 to attend an art college at age 19. Seven years later, he had his first solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery. Familiar with pop art elements of Hollywood, beach scenes, palm trees, film and automobiles, artists from LA established their own identity and art world, set apart from east coast-based artists. In particular, artists that worked with the Ferus Gallery were often associated with masculine images, and they adopted this as their persona. The group of them came to be called the Studs. Meanwhile, Ruscha took a slightly different approach. While blending in with other members of the Studs, he expanded or even overcome the macho image through humor and irony. Alexandra Schwartz did extensive in-depth research on Ed Ruscha, and noted that Ruscha could be understood as a mediating figure of the Ferus Gallery, as he was accepted in both the west and the east coast. Schwartz argued that although Ruscha widely used images of the west, he could take a more neutral perspective than other LA-based artists at the time. To him, LA was home and workplace, but Ruscha refused to play along with the cliché of the macho images. As a representative artist of the Ferus Gallery, Ruscha twisted the meaning of the Ferus Studs, intentionally and strategically, and expressed them in his work. With Jerry McMillan, Ruscha actively engaged in opinion-exchanges and image-creating. He augmented the significance of the Studs, which evolved to be a part of various public images that Ruscha experimented with. Ruscha added a new facet of artistic persona to the Studs. The masculine and aggressive images of the Studs members were reproduced in many photos. While connecting to them for solidarity, Ruscha humorously twisted the images, and moved away from the stereotype. Ruscha was a leading artist for the gallery, and widely experimented with the images of the Studs in his work.

Ⅰ. 머리말
 Ⅱ. 루샤와 LA
  1. 페러스 갤러리
  2. LA 팝아트의 수용
 Ⅲ. 루샤의 작품에 나타난 서부 이미지
  1. 작품<할리우드 사인 Hollywood sign>
  2. 페러스 스터드의 확장
 Ⅳ. 맺음말

• 김용선(숙명여자대학교) | Kim, Yong Sun