Ed Ruscha

I really like Ed Ruscha but was a little disappointed by the current exhibition at the Hayward gallery .
It's great to see a major career survey by a living painter, hasn't been one there for ages. But as it's a celebration of 50 years of his painting, it excludes some of the most interesting and vital aspects of his practise, his photography. I love his stark, haunting ariel images of deserted car parks and gasoline stations, would have been great to see those and his artist books too.
However, the paintings are good, witty and, at their best, unsettling. I particularly enjoyed seeing again his 1966 work 'Oof'. It was the first painting I saw of his in the flesh on my very first visit to MOMA and New York. I took a photo of my friend Derek, infront of it, standing sideways, in the shape of a P.