‘Words are pattern-like, and in their horizontality they answer my investigation into landscape. They’re almost not words – they are objects that become words.’ - Ed Ruscha

Emergency Numbers, 1973, is an exquisite example of Ed Ruscha’s unique artistic practice. The two words ‘Emergency Numbers’ are executed in gothic script and rendered in the negative space against a woody textured background. Ruscha’s choice of typeface and use of unconventional materials – cherry juice stained paper – intentionally possess no relevance to the meaning of the text. The present work exemplifies the artist’s experimentation with materials which typify the American experience such as blood, food, condiments and gunpowder, perhaps most famously in Stains, 1969 (Museum of Modern Art, New York), which comprises of 76 sheets of paper, each stained with a different substance such as Wine, Coffee and LA tap Water.

Ruscha began his career in graphic design, studying lettering, design and advertising at the Chouinard Art Institute, however he soon turned to fine art under the influence of Abstract Expressionists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. In the early 1960s Ruscha harnessed single words as the protagonists of his pictures in contrast to artists such as John Badessari and Joseph Kosuth who used text as part of the narrative of the work. Through isolating or repeating Ruscha theorised that you could ‘drive the meaning from the word and from the sound of the word’ (Walter Hopps “A Conversation between Walter Hopps and Edward Ruscha” in Yves-Alain Bois, Edward Ruscha: Romance with Liquids, Paintings 1966-1969, exh. cat., Gagosian Gallery, New York, pp. 97-108).