The name Ed Ruscha has become synonymous with Los Angeles, his text-based paintings have revolutionized the relationship between the visual and the semiotic. As a West Coast artist, Ruscha fully embraced the visual culture of Los Angeles and both its natural and artificial landscapes. He has pioneered the notion of words as visual abstractions, inducing a physical reaction based on their chosen hue, typography and context. The word “Beverly,” executed in apple red makes reference to Beverly Boulevard one of the main east-west thoroughfares in Los Angeles which runs right through West Hollywood. Viewers will have conventional associations with aspects of the work—its font, the color red, the wood grain background and Ruscha is compelling the viewer to reconsider all of his preconceived notions. In the artist’s words, “I love the language, words have temperatures…when they reach a certain point and become hot words they appeal to me.”