I dette meterlange fotografiske bogværk har den amerikanske kunstner Ed Ruscha taget udgangspunkt i sin hjemby Los Angeles, nærmere Sunset Strip; en strækning på ca. 3,5 km på Sunset Boulevard, som i dag hører under den vestlige del af Hollywood i Californien. Sunset Strip er kendt for dets restauranter, spillesteder og natklubber, som gennem tiden b.la. har tiltrukket en lang række kendte filmfolk og musikere. Som titlen afslører, dokumenterer Ruschas værk nøgternt og minutiøst denne berømte strækning, der som en lang, sort-hvid filmstribe foldes ud bygning for bygning. Kunstnerens dokumentation af Sunset Strip står som et erindringsbillede, en tidslomme, som også knytter sig til fotografiet som medie og dets evne til at dokumentere øjebliksbilledets standsning af tid. Som det er tilfældet her, er Ed Ruschas i sine værker stærkt inspireret af Hollywoods filmindustri og beskæftiger sig ofte tematisk med kendte landmærker fra Los Angeles og landskabet i det sydlige Californien. Ved at rette opmærksomheden mod den ofte ubemærkede nære virkelighed omkring os kobler Ed Ruscha sig til den amerikanske Popkunst. Som han selv udtrykker: “There are things that I’m constantly looking at that I feel should be elevated to greater status, almost to philosophical status or to a religious status. That’s why taking things out of context is a useful tool to an artist. It’s the concept of taking something that’s not subject matter and making it subject matter.”
In this metre-long, photographic ‘bookwork’, the US artist Ed Ruscha depicts his hometown of Los Angeles or, more precisely, Sunset Strip – an approximately 1.5-mile stretch of Sunset Boulevard, which today passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. Sunset Strip is famous for its restaurants, performance venues and nightclubs, which, over the years, have attracted a large number of celebrity filmmakers and musicians. As the title reveals, Ruscha’s work documents this famous stretch objectively and meticulously. Building by building, it unfolds like a long, black-and-white film strip. The artist’s documentation of Sunset Strip is a memory picture, a time warp, which also comments on photography as a medium and its ability to document the way a snapshot can bring time to a standstill. As is the case here, Ed Ruscha’s works draw much inspiration from the Hollywood film industry, the themes often featuring familiar Los Angeles landmarks and the Southern Californian landscape. The way Ed Ruscha draws our attention to the reality that surrounds us and to details we often do not notice links him to US Pop Art. As he himself puts it: “There are things that I’m constantly looking at that I feel should be elevated to greater status, almost to philosophical status or to a religious status. That’s why taking things out of context is a useful tool to an artist. It’s the concept of taking something that’s not subject matter and making it subject matter.”