Ed Ruscha’s enigmatic texts and images illuminate the poetic possibilities—and the prosaic limitations—of written, visual, and verbal communication. His repetition of word fragments in this triptych recalls an amateur photographer’s attempt to create a continuous panorama, or the tectonic breaks in California’s geology, thus underscoring his interest in the dislocation of subjects and their potential meanings. Describing the enigmatic nature of his works, he observed, “Sometimes I feel like I’m doing book covers for mysterious stories.”

Ruscha’s white capital letters, which resemble those in Los Angeles’s famous Hollywood sign, combined with the vivid sunrise or sunset landscape, recall a film title from a vintage Western movie. Also evoked are historical perceptions of Gold Rush California as an earthly Eden filled with infinite potential—and the site for the fulfillment of the United States’ supposed “manifest destiny” to settle the entire continent up to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.