Edward Ruscha

This image was included in Ruscha’s artist’s book Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass 1968. This was Ruscha’s first colour photographic series. As the title indicates, the book includes nine photographs of pools and one of a broken glass tumbler, placed at the end almost like the punchline of an absurd visual joke. This series continues Ruscha’s project of documenting the Los Angeles landscape. All the pools are located at low-budget motels. These highly artificial leisure spaces can be seen as symbolic of Southern California’s ‘easy living’ culture.