Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)
Publication Date
Spring 2024
College
O'More College of Architecture and Design
Department
Architecture
BURS Faculty Advisor
Joseph Watson
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
This presentation explores Edward Ruscha’s photobook 26 Gasoline Stations through an architectural lens. Specifically, it treats Ruscha’s work as historic evidence of how consumption, industry, and commodity have infiltrated all kinds of environmental contexts through architectural manifestations. Known for being the first artist’s book, 26 Gasoline Stations ambiguously exists as both fine art and documentation of everyday conditions, with the overall graphic character highlighting its perceived focus on overarching narrative. Since gasoline stations are the primary subject of each of the 26 photographs, the subject of this work is arguably architecture, suggesting that the historic relationship between mass gas consumption—or petroculture—architecture, and environment can be contextualized through the narrative created by the collection of documentary photographs. Through their subject matter and emphasis on quantity, the photos themselves allude to the growing reliance on petroleum, indicate the prevalence of automobile transport, and evidence how these forces infiltrated design decisions for gas stations. With each gas station generally exhibiting vivid branding, eye catching graphics, and proximity to a major road, there is a distinct juxtaposition between the industry-based architecture and its vast, natural, landscape setting. This compositional juxtaposition visually outlines the industrial lifecycle of gasoline, for its natural origin, commodification, branded presence, and resulting contradictory impact on physical environments are each captured in one photo taken in a spontaneous, casual, everyday manner. Just as Edward Ruscha’s 26 Gasoline Stations can document, reveal, and affirm the nature of gas stations as physical manifestations of the reliance on fossil fuel industries and their subsequent impact on environments, uncommonly considered media can augment the study of architectural theory by introducing complex, global issues in more accessible, holistic, and comprehensible ways.
Recommended Citation
Tonguis, Rebecca, "Photography, Architecture, and Environment: An Architectural Analysis of Edward Ruscha’s 26 Gasoline Stations" (2024). Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS). 429.
https://repository.belmont.edu/burs/429
Included in
American Art and Architecture Commons, Architectural History and Criticism Commons, Book and Paper Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Other Architecture Commons, Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Photography Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons
