Label Text:
Though recent droughts and resulting water usage restrictions have left more than 3 million pools parched in California, in the 1960s water seemed to be as unlimited as wealth and fame. This pocket-sized book contains nine images of sparkling, turquoise pools—irregularly spaced across 62 pages—followed by a tenth and final image of a broken drinking glass. At once banal and foreboding, the book is perhaps a commentary on Los Angeles’ superficial, spectator culture. Though figures are conspicuously absent from these images, there are mysterious traces of human presence—such as wet footprints on a diving board, which might even belong to Ruscha himself.

-Jaime Pagana, Curatorial Assistant, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (Sept. 2016)

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+2013.21.1

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