Crown Point Press announces the release of Castiron Calendar, a new etching by Ed Ruscha. It is featured in a group exhibition, About Words, that includes eleven of Ruscha’s etchings made between 2006 and 2023 along with a selection of prints made between 1977 and 2019 by Robert Barry, Iain Baxter, Steve Reich, Pat Steir and William T. Wiley. Each artist uses words as imagery to explore language and meaning visually.

Ed Ruscha throughout his career has used words as subject matter. These “non-verbal communications,” as he describes them, are set against textured backgrounds that act as stage sets or backdrops. In his new print, Castiron Calendar, Ruscha created the letters in his iconic font by using a stencil. The two words, one stacked on top of the other, pop out from a dark background. The words play against each other: “calendar” marks the passage of time, while “cast iron,” in its heaviness and solidity, endures. The print mixes visual formality with playful language, and resonates in meaning and in presentation.