RUSCHA Edward (Omaha, Nebraska 1937), BENGSTON Billy Al (Dodge City 1934)
Hollywood, Heavy Industry Publications, 1968, 14,2x22 cm., paperback, pp. [32]
artist’s book with an original black-and-white photograph applied to the cover and held in place by four black paper corners; 21 black-and-white photographic illustrations by Larry Bell and Ken Price; two original artists’ business cards attached with a metal paper clip to the penultimate page. Text in facsimile of the original handwritten manuscript by Billy Bengston. Copy with an autograph inscription by Larry Bell, AL (Billy Al Bengston) and Joe Goode. Edition of 1.000 copies
Bibliography: Engberg - Phillpot 1999: volume I, pp. 94-95; volume II pag. 71
“Of all Ruscha's books, whether solo or collaborative, "Business Cards" is the least formal in its design. The <woodgrain> paper cover with its mounted photo and leather-knotted binding immediately signals a different kind of book (fig. 23). Inside the treatment of the pages is deliberately, even refreshingly, scrappy, though it echoes Ruscha's predilections regarding leyout. Likes <Royal Road Test>, this collaboration is also a story, telling how Ruscha and bengston designed business cards for another, and how they finally exchanged them. The book signed on the cover by each artist, is like a souvenir intended only for the partecipans, even though 1.000 copies were made…”. (Engberg - Philippot).
RUSCHA Edward (Omaha, Nebraska 1937), BENGSTON Billy Al (Dodge City 1934)
Hollywood, Heavy Industry Publications, 1968, 14,2x22 cm., paperback, pp. [32]
artist’s book with an original black-and-white photograph applied to the cover and held in place by four black paper corners; 21 black-and-white photographic illustrations by Larry Bell and Ken Price; two original artists’ business cards attached with a metal paper clip to the penultimate page. Text in facsimile of the original handwritten manuscript by Billy Bengston. Copy with an autograph inscription by Larry Bell, AL (Billy Al Bengston) and Joe Goode. Edition of 1.000 copies
Bibliography: Engberg - Phillpot 1999: volume I, pp. 94-95; volume II pag. 71
“Of all Ruscha's books, whether solo or collaborative, "Business Cards" is the least formal in its design. The <woodgrain> paper cover with its mounted photo and leather-knotted binding immediately signals a different kind of book (fig. 23). Inside the treatment of the pages is deliberately, even refreshingly, scrappy, though it echoes Ruscha's predilections regarding leyout. Likes <Royal Road Test>, this collaboration is also a story, telling how Ruscha and bengston designed business cards for another, and how they finally exchanged them. The book signed on the cover by each artist, is like a souvenir intended only for the partecipans, even though 1.000 copies were made…”. (Engberg - Philippot).
