Tate Liverpool Announces ARTIST ROOMS: Ed Ruscha for 2026
Tate Liverpool has announced a major new display dedicated to influential American artist Ed Ruscha, opening next spring. ARTIST ROOMS: Ed Ruscha will be presented across Tate Liverpool + RIBA North from 12 February to 14 June 2026, showcasing a rich selection of the artist’s books, photographs, paintings, drawings, and lithographs.
Focusing on the driving culture of mid-century America and the evolving architecture of Los Angeles, the display explores how Ruscha captured the look, feel, and rhythm of modern urban life. Born in Oklahoma before moving to LA in 1956, Ruscha’s 200-mile journey west profoundly shaped his vision — one rooted in the vast landscapes, roadside structures, and cultural icons of the American experience.
Taking his fascination with petrol stations as a starting point, the exhibition traces the artist’s journey along Route 66, revealing parking lots, diners, swimming pools, and nightclubs — quintessential symbols of the ‘American way of life’. A highlight will be Ruscha’s landmark 1963 book Twentysix Gasoline Stations, presented digitally, alongside preparatory sketches for his celebrated painting Standard Station.
Visitors will also encounter Ruscha’s photographic series Every Building on the Sunset Strip, his Parking Lot Portfolio, and the Los Francisco San Angeles Portfolio — a fictional merging of California’s urban maps. Together, these works illustrate Ruscha’s lifelong engagement with seriality, geography, and the visual language of the American cityscape.
Complementing these are his renowned text-based works, including Made in America (1974), Dance? (1973), and OK (State I) (1990), which use everyday language and materials to evoke the wit, irony, and imagery of US culture.
ARTIST ROOMS: Ed Ruscha offers visitors a compelling journey through one of the most distinctive and influential artistic voices of the 20th century — an artist who turned the ordinary streets of America into icons of modern art.
For more information visit tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool.
