
Ed Ruscha: Mysteries
Ed Ruscha created Mysteries, a color lithograph, in collaboration with the Minneapolis-based workshop Vermillion Editions Limited in 2021. It is based on a large oil-on-canvas painting from 1987.
Mysteries can be major (“Why do we exist?”) or minor (“Where the heck did I put my car keys?”). In Ruscha’s print, four instances of the word “mysteries” are superimposed one over the other in multiple registers of scale and color against a shadowy crimson ground. Receding or advancing, the overlaid texts create a visual pulse that imbues the work with both a three-dimensional and a cinematic feel, as if marking a flash in time.
Artist: Ed Ruscha
Producer: Vermillion Editions Limited
Date: 2021
Medium: Lithograph on paper
Dimensions: Unframed: 30 3/4 × 30 inches (78.1 × 76.2 cm); Framed: 33 1/2 × 32 3/8 × 1 1/2 inches (85.1 × 82.4 × 3.8 cm)
Edition: Edition 15/75 + 15 AP
Signed: Signed, dated, and numbered on recto
Framed: Sold framed