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What Should I Do?

Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.

What Should I Do?

1988

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What Should I Do?

1988

Physical Qualities Color lithograph, Sheet: 560 x 351 mm. (22 1/16 x 13 13/16 in.) Image: 541 x 335 mm. (21 5/16 x 13 3/16 in.)
Portfolio/Series From the portfolio "Preview Suite"
Credit Line Women's Committee Acquisitions Endowment for Contemporary Prints and Photographs
Object Number 2011.71.3
Allen Ruppersberg is among a group of influential West Coast artists (including Ed Ruscha whose work is on view nearby) who by the late 1960s were redefining the forms that art might take. In 1969, Ruppersberg conceived an installation and performance piece called Al’s Café in which the artist himself manned the restaurant counter and served up plates of inedible, but sculpturally arranged food and objects along with beer and conversation. Since then, the artist has spent most of his career exploring language and the formats in which it appears, notably books and posters. Preview Suite combines text from miscellaneous sources with statements written by Ruppersberg. These are presented on the distinctive, colorful designs of Los Angeles’s Colby Poster Printing Company, more typically used for street advertisements. Phrases like “What should I do?” suggest an everyday existentialism that is reflected in Ruppersberg’s observation that “Art should be familiar and enigmatic, just as human beings themselves.” The vibrant backgrounds are also wittily evocative of the powerful compositions of mid-20th century abstract painter Mark Rothko.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2011; Greene Naftali Gallery, NY
Kristen Hileman, BMA, Contemporary Wing rotation, 1 May - 20 November 2013.

Inscribed: VERSO lower left, in graphite: "AR.88.969"

Markings: VERSO lower left, LANDFALL PRESS stamp

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Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.
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Waiter, what is this? You are not taking good care of your interests! You should have covered and breeded the egg. Then you could have served the little chicken on watercress!
1841
Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.
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1988
Honoré Daumier
A Landlord. - Oh! Mr. de Macaire, you wouldn't turn us out into the street just for being a miserable quarter late with our rent... - Where else should I put you, by devil? - But we've spent 30'000Fr. in your shop!... - That's another reason, it all comes back to me... - And my four poor small children?... - What the heavens is that to do with me. I didn't ask you to have them!...
1837
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1988
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Robert Macaire's boarding school. - Professor, here's my system of education. Have an undemanding curriculum so that study lasts as long as possible, give holidays, receive presents at every possible anniversary, and as for the prices, one should be perfectly impartial... - Quite right! They should only be given to the best pupils. - What! Upset the parents! Oh no! Not at all! Prizes shall be given to everybody. To every man his due!
1837
Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.
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1988
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Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.
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1988
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