Legibility

The image above is an Oil on Canvas painting by American Pop Artist Ed Ruscha. The title of the piece is ‘NOT A BAD WORLD IS IT?’ and this title appears visually in the painting itself. Those exact words appear floating over a scenic background; a technique utilised majorly in his paintings in the early 1980’s which developed into Ruscha’s signature device of this period. The type appears above a picturesque landscape background depicting a glorious sunset complete with mountains, seas and skies.

The typography used is Ruscha’s renowned personal typeface, a simplistic curve free font which is white in colour; however the legibility of this specific typography is questionable. This is because some elements of the typography are barely visible as they do not detract from nor form much of a contrast to elements of the landscape background. For example some aspects of the white typography appear above sheer bright white areas of cloud and therefore become completely absorbed by the background making the typography almost invisible.

 The word ‘WORLD’ is completely illegible and the audience are almost left guessing as to what Ruscha is trying to communicate. However, thankfully the meaning in the typography is reinforced by what is depicted in the image. The landscape background illustrates a perfect vision of the world, and therefore creates a connection between the verbal language of title which states that we do not live in a bad world, and the beauty in his visual landscape which supports his query.  Ruscha successfully demonstrates the importance of the relationship between image and text.

Bibliography

http://www.edruscha.com/site/workView.cfm?pk=351

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3671029/Ed-Ruscha-Paintings-maverick-man-of-letters.html

http://www.picassomio.com/ed-ruscha.html