California-based artist Ed Ruscha has long harbored a fascination with the architecture of the gas station. Struck by the design of these structures, he began to photograph them on various cross-country road trips; many of the images he made were published in his 1963 book Twentysix Gasoline Stations. Among the numerous stations he photographed, it was the Standard station in Amarillo, Texas, with its bold signage and linear architecture, that stayed with him, prompting him to make a painting of the same subject in 1963. In 1966, art collector Audrey Sabol saw the painting in the artist’s studio and suggested that Ruscha make a print version of the composition; she offered to commission the project. Standard Station, executed in screenprint, would become one of Ruscha’s most iconic prints.

Ruscha added a second sign with bold lettering to the composition to create a variation on the series and to warrant the pun in the title, Double Standard. In this screenprint, the artist achieved a gradation in the brown hue of the background by using the “rainbow roll” technique, where two or more inks are blended to create a subtle transition effect between colors. Ruscha incorporated this technique, common in commercial printing, into his fine art prints.