Stains: Acetone (Gray Cross)
1969
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
acetone on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 30 × 27.31 cm (11 13/16 × 10 3/4 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Collectors Committee
Accession Number
2013.60.1.5
Art Historical Context
Ed Ruscha's *Stains: Acetone (Gray Cross)* (1969) is a captivating example from his innovative *Stains* portfolio, a series that pushed the boundaries of traditional art-making during the late 1960s. As a leading figure in Pop and Conceptual Art, Ruscha, based in Los Angeles, often explored language, consumerism, and everyday materials with a deadpan wit. Created amid the countercultural ferment of the era, this work reflects his fascination with impermanence and chance, transforming mundane chemicals into abstract expressions. The medium—acetone applied to wove paper—marks Ruscha's radical t...
About the Artist
Ed Ruscha
Edward Ruscha, born Edward Joseph Ruscha IV on December 16, 1937, in Omaha, Nebraska, grew up in Oklahoma City after his family relocated there in 1941. From a young age, he was drawn to cartooning, supported by his mother, and his early artistic spark was nurtured amid the American Midwest before he moved to Los Angeles in 1956. There, he enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute (now California In...