Ed Ruscha is most well known for his pop iconic photographs.
The exhibit at the Art Institute: 'Ed Ruscha and Photography' focused on his earlier photographs and the photo books he created. Much of his earlier work is comprised of photos of cityscapes, gas stations, parking lots, and city streets.
For the event we created a large scale choreographed dance on the grand staircase to Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet". A dancer dressed as a museum janitor mopped the stairway landing while listening to head phones. 20 gas station attendants appeared and began polishing the railings and scrubbing the staircase. As the refrain picked up, they leaped into dance in a very theatrical Buzbee Berkley style.
I dressed the gas station attendants in neutral and iconic navy blue pants, blue collared shirt, white socks, and black shoes. Each had an orange rag, which was used to polish the stair case, and an orange name badge - all saying "Ed". Many of the women wore orange hair bandannas.
To create focus and to contrast the blues of the gas station attendants surrounding him, I dressed the janitor in tan coveralls and completed the costume with the orange accessories and "Ed" name badge.
Here's the link to Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet" music video.
