Ed Ruscha

The Music from the Balconies

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About this artwork

Since the early 1970s Ed Ruscha has been an admirer of the British writer J.G. Ballard’s fiction. The text in this painting is from Ballard’s 1975 dystopian novel ‘High-Rise’. The work juxtaposes a beautiful landscape and serene skyline layered with the dark and unsettling quote “The Music from the Balconies Nearby Was Overlaid by the Noise of Sporadic Acts of Violence”. Ruscha could be said to be enacting an act of violence himself in this painting, overlying the tranquil landscape with the wordy Ballard quote.

Updated before 2020

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  • artist:
    Ed Ruscha (born 1937) American
  • title:
    The Music from the Balconies
  • date created:
    1984
  • materials:
    Oil paint on canvas
  • measurements:
    251.50 x 205.70 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Presented by the artist 2009
  • accession number:
    AR01126
  • gallery:
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
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Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha