Edward Ruscha: Books

''Twentysix Gasoline Stations", ''Some Los Angeles Apartments", ''A Few Palm Trees"... are some of the titles of Ed Ruscha's books from the 1960s and the 1970s. For a wider audience Ruscha is better known for his large placard paintings (and it was these he exhibted at Louisiana's exhibition "Sunshine & Noir" last summer). His books have been equally important in defining the L A Look. The city's collective subconscious is captured in these images - on the border between art and graphic design - which are as cool as all LA residents wish they were themselves.