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4-color photogravure with screenprinted text
Country Cityscapes, a suite of six prints, showcases Graphicstudio’s achievement in the development of multi-plate color photogravure. Ruscha rephotographed, as 4×5 transparencies, offset lithographic, calendar-like images of magnificent landscapes, and the transparencies were made into photogravure plates. The commercial photographs are recast as high-art prints, the tracks of offset lithography and characteristics of hand photogravure both evident in the streaky surface marks and softened textures of the images. Ruscha then created blacked- or whited-out spaces for text on the prints, which he left blank. The text appears as almost invisible gray screenprint on the center bottom margin of the prints. Ironic and aggressive, the words create a startling counterpoint to the iconic nature of the imagery.
