Repetitions
Ed Ruscha was a photographer i remember looking into in Year 1 contextual studies. He produced a book entitled "Twentysix Gasoline Stations". The book was exactly what it said on the tin, on each page was an image of a gas station, beneath it, text detailing the brand and location.
He has been very methodical for this project apart from one or two images. All of the gas stations are on route 66 from west to east, LA to Texas. The images are taken from different angles, but still maintain this repetition link, which enables them to flow well together in the book. 5 stations are moved out of order that you would encounter them driving along route 66. 3 of them were taken at night, 1 of them out of a car window and only 1 of the images has a human presence.
The images seem to have intentionally aimed to not have human presence in them, with as good as all images being empty, and shot from across the highway.
The industrial simulacra transforms the natural world. Signs, as featured in Ruscha's work are mass produced on a large scale and originate through material production.
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