
The Ancients Stole All Our Great Ideas (Part 2)

By Martin
By Jay
“Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we’re living, which is so excellent once one gets one’s mind and desires out of its way and lets it act of it’s own accord.”
~John Cage
By Martin
“The Ancients Stole All Our Great Ideas” is a line from Mark Twain’s autobiography and the title of an exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna that Ed Ruscha curated last year. In response to Clavin Tomkins’ wonderful July 1st New Yorker profile of Ruscha, titled “An artist in the right place,” I have pulled together 10 of my favorite works by the artist. First up is this incredibly blunt piece from 1989, simply titled “150 Miles.”