For the last five years I have been collecting artists' books that reference, mimic, are made in homage to, or just completely rip-off the iconic books made by Ed Ruscha. To date I have a collection of over 60 books and have recently begun to co-collaborate on the project with Michalis Pichler, another avid collector of Ruscha-esque books. We have now co-curated our first exhibition of these books under the Follow-ed (after hokusai) title at the Winchester Gallery, Winchester School of Art, and it is open between 2nd February and 10th March 2011. The show then tours to Arnolfini, Bristol on show between 15th March and 1st May 2011. Under the title after hokusai (follow-ed) the collection of books is also on show at P74, Ljubljana in February and March 2011 and Kunstbibliothek, Berlin in Autumn 2011.

The collection and quest for more books continues. Some of the books are obtained because we can see a link, not knowing if the artist has been consciously trying to replicate Ed Ruscha. Most of the books are direct references to the style or subject-matter of Ruscha's originals. The one overriding factor is that they all contain an element of humour reminiscent of Ruscha, and we still get really excited with each new discovery.

Michalis and myself are still keen to hear of any Ruscha-style books that you may have made or know about. Please get in contact.

For more information on Michalis Pichler, please visit: http://www.buypichler.com

Many of the books seen in the book section of this website are now available from Lulu. These include second editions of previously released books as well as new books only available from Lulu. Please visit the storefront at http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3433996 for further information and to buy books.