Iconic American artist Ed Ruscha has, over the past 60 years, produced a diverse and highly influential body of work encompassing paintings, drawings, prints, books, photographs and films. The western United States is a primary subject for his work, from his frequent evocations of the Los Angeles urban landscape to his meditations on the open road.

Ed Ruscha: OKLA is the first exhibition to focus on the artist’s Oklahoma roots – his family, his upbringing and his discovery of his calling as an artist. It is also, remarkably, his first solo museum exhibition in his home state. Ruscha lived in Oklahoma City from the ages of 5 to 18: the formative years of both his life and his artistic sensibility. His Midwestern childhood had a profound impact on his art, which the exhibition explores through 74 works from all phases of his career, organized into five interrelated thematic sections.

You can see it all at the brand-new Oklahoma Contemporary museum through July 5, 2021. Admission is free and reservations are available up to two weeks in advance. Book your Guided Tour here.

Image provided by Oklahoma Contemporary. Mocha Standard (1969). Screenprint, 24 7/8 x 40 in. Ed. 64/100. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. © Ed Ruscha. Photo: Trayson Conner.