Ed Ruscha (b. 1937)

“I never wanted to write. I prefer  the economy, the directness, of visual tools, rather than communicating as a writer. There are some similarities, but my words are always instant choices… Despite the fact that I use words, I work in and on a non-verbal world, and this is the irony” (Ed Ruscha quoted in Ed Ruscha Paintings exh. cat., Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, 1990, p. 130).