Ed Ruscha: Sin—Without
Printed by the Minneapolis-based workshop Akasha on Arches Special paper, Sin—Without is based on a 1991 painting made during a period in which Ed Ruscha often worked in black and white. In the lithograph, his standard low horizon line anchors an arresting cloudscape, its hints of cinematic drama or menace offset by rays of piercing light. While Ruscha notes that the word “sin” signifies “without” in Spanish, he also proposes a suggestive link between the composition’s text and image. “This giant sky, it’s a metaphor for completely being let loose,” he has noted, adding, “the sky’s the limit, so . . . do whatever you want, so why not S-I-N?”