Conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg (b. 1944, Cleveland) moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s with the goal of becoming an illustrator, but soon became active in an emerging scene led by artists such as John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, William Leavitt, and others exploring the interface of language and image filtered through the lens of mass culture. His early projects—including environments made with found objects; wry, narrative photo works; and a novel copied by hand—began a career-long practice of creating works that prompt both reading and looking, and that intertwine fact with fiction.
Allen Ruppersberg: Intellectual Property 1968–2018 is on view at the Hammer Museum till May 12, 2019.
