Zinc oxide and pastel on paper
Tate Collection
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National Heritage Memorial Fund
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/edward-ruscha-1882" aria-label="More by Edward Ruscha" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Edward Ruscha</a>
Miracle 64
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
light
miracle
natural phenomena
rays
religion and belief
universal religious imagery
<p>Ruscha made a series of <span>Miracle </span>drawings in the mid-1970s. In these pastel drawings beams of light appear to burst forth from dark backgrounds. ‘Shafts of light and the word “Miracle” have always been synonymous,’ the artist has commented. <span>Miracle</span> is also the title of a short film Ruscha made in 1975. The beam of light in his picture could be seen as that of a cinema projector, referring to the miracle of moving pictures.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2019</em></p>
paper unique zinc oxide pastel
21 March 2009 – 13 June 2010
2010-06-13
21 March 2009 – 13 June 2010
2010-06-13
2009-03-21
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2009-03-21
Edward Ruscha
Collection based display
18 September 2010 – 16 April 2011
2011-04-16
18 September 2010 – 20 November 2010
2010-11-20
2010-09-18
Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (Inverness, UK)
http://www.invernessmuseum.com
15 January 2011 – 26 February 2011
2011-02-26
2011-01-15
Swanson Gallery (Thurso, UK)
http://www.highland.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/what-to-see/arts/ar
2010-09-18
ARTIST ROOMS 2010: Highland Touring Circuit - Ed Ruscha
Loan-out
28 May 2011 – 29 October 2011
2011-10-29
28 May 2011 – 29 October 2011
2011-10-29
2011-05-28
Wolverhampton Art Gallery (Wolverhampton, UK)
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk
2011-05-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2011: Ed Ruscha
Loan-out
22 July 2019 – 18 July 2021
2021-07-18
22 July 2019 – 18 July 2021
2021-07-18
2019-07-22
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2019-07-22
AR Ed Ruscha
Collection based display
10 September 2023 – 6 October 2024
2024-10-06
10 September 2023 – 6 January 2024
2024-01-06
2023-09-10
Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA)
7 April 2024 – 6 October 2024
2024-10-06
2024-04-07
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, USA)
2023-09-10
Ed Ruscha: A Retrospective
Loan-out
Miracle #64
support: 1013 × 765 mm
frame: 1190 × 937 × 40 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<div class="text">
<p>
<i>Miracle #64</i> is a large pastel drawing on heavyweight paper. It depicts a bright beam of light entering a dark space from above, its source unknown. The radiating light divides and illuminates the mysterious, seemingly empty space of the drawing. The beam is rendered using yellow pastel and zinc oxide, a whitening pigment. The shaft travels down the paper on a slight diagonal, dispersing its yellow and white light across the murky black background. This background, which covers most of the paper surface, never achieves total opacity. Even in the furthest corners of the page, where the central light shaft does not appear to penetrate, the pastel coats the paper surface so that its original white state gives a shimmering luminosity beneath the layering of dark pigment. The beam is composed of a series of vertical slashes of yellow and white, which move from fairly solid bands to hazy areas of tonal gradations, dissolving into black. Unlike other drawings by Ruscha of this period there is no border to contain the image; instead the pastel medium is worked right to the edge of the paper, creating the impression of a boundless, infinite space. </p>
<p>The diffuse quality of the pastel application eliminates decisive graphic boundaries and contouring: in effect there is no linear element to the drawing style. Rather, it relies on a soft blending technique, the pastel rubbed into the slightly textured fabric of the paper, conveying the impression of particles of light floating through air with nothing solid to bounce off or reflect against. <i>Miracle #64 </i>belongs to a group of eight <i>Miracle </i>drawings Ruscha produced in the mid-1970s. These works are unusual in relation to the artist’s drawing practice of that time in that they are purely visual images, with no textual component. This contrasts with Ruscha’s ‘catch-phrase’ drawings (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-mad-scientist-ar00051" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00051</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-i-plead-insanity-because-im-just-crazy-about-that-little-girl-ar00053" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00053</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-hollywood-tantrum-ar00059" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00059</span></a>), which depict vernacular phrases in stencilled lettering against coloured backgrounds. </p>
<p>As an image, <i>Miracle #64</i> tends towards the cinematic, layering suggestions of a film projector beam and the <i>chiaroscuro</i> space of 1940s film noir. Ruscha has stated that during his time as a student at the Chouinard Art Institute in the late 1950s he ‘became aware of the art of the movies. I would forget the story but remember the emotion’ (Ruscha and Schwartz 2002, p.11). This early encounter with the emotional impact of Hollywood pictures had a long-lasting impact upon the artist’s work. Rather than tying his interest in cinema to a particular film or storyline, the cinematic becomes a pervasive mood that links many disparate entities. The artist has considered this aspect of his work: ‘“Hollywood dreams” – I mean, think about it. Close your eyes and what does it mean, visually? It means a ray of light, actually, to me, rather than a success story.’ (Ibid., p.221.) </p>
<p>The <i>Miracle </i>drawings also relate to a 35mm film made by Ruscha in 1975, also titled <i>Miracle</i>. The plot concerns a car mechanic; during the course of the short film, the grubby, oil-smeared overalls he wears are gradually transformed into a gleaming white version. This transition from dirtiness to sparkling cleanliness echoes the illumination of the beam in the drawing, opening up the darkened space to a cleansing light. Ruscha has commented on the <i>Miracle </i>film that: ‘It’s more like a blend and I like blends of things. The blend of things between one thing and another to me is like incompetency and almost a spiritual success, and all the blendings between, that’s my film, that’s “miracle”.’ (Ibid., p.81.) Blending is a crucial part of the application of pastel, and the artist’s use of the word ‘spiritual’ is telling. In addition to the filmic references, a beam of light is often associated with religious miracle, a link to the work’s title. A sense of mystery pervades the drawing. The artist, who was raised as a Catholic, has said: ‘There is a connection with my work and my experience with religious icons: the stations of the cross and the Church. Some of the flavours come over, like incense used in the Church, benediction … I liked the ritual. I liked the priest’s vestments – there was a deep mysterious thing that affected me.’ (Ibid., p.99.) </p>
<p>The visual motif of <i>Miracle #64</i> reappears twenty years later in Ruscha’s <i>Painting Without Words</i> 1997 (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles), a twenty-six foot tall painting also of a vertical shaft of light, painted in acrylic on canvas (reproduced in Richards 2008, p.120). In a sketchbook page from 1997, the artist notes some preliminary ideas for this painting. At the very bottom of the page, a sentence reads: ‘I want a picture that is figurative but ageless’ (Ruscha and Schwartz 2002, p.346). In its duality of filmic and religious connotations, this description is equally applicable to <i>Miracle #64</i>. </p>
<p>
<b>Further reading </b>
<br/>Dave Hickey, ‘I Gotta Use Words When I Talk to You. Ed Ruscha’s Drawings’ in <i>Ed Ruscha: New Paintings and a Retrospective of the Works on Paper</i>, exhibition catalogue, Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London 1998, pp.33–7, repr. p.34.<br/>Edward Ruscha and Alexandra Schwartz (eds.), <i>Leave Any Information at the Signal: Writings, Interviews, Bits, Pages</i>, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London 2002. <br/>Mary Richards, <i>Ed Ruscha</i>, London 2008, repr. p.121. </p>
<p>Stephanie Straine<br/>March 2010</p>
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Summary
2012-07-03T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Ruscha made a series of <i>Miracle </i>drawings in the mid-1970s. In these pastel drawings beams of light appear to burst forth from dark backgrounds. ‘Shafts of light and the word “Miracle” have always been synonymous,’ the artist has commented. <i>Miracle</i> is also the title of a short film Ruscha made in 1975. The beam of light in his picture could be seen as that of a cinema projector, referring to the miracle of moving pictures.</p>
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Display caption
2019-07-26T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities light miracle natural phenomena rays religion and belief universal religious imagery