Mocha Standard, 1969

The Collection of Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc.

After “Mocha Standard” first appeared in Ruscha's artist book “Twentysix Gasoline Stations” in 1964, “Mocha Standard” transformed into a masterpiece of American painting. Part of a series featuring John D. Rockefeller's ubiquitous Standard Oil stations, “Mocha Standard” depicts Standard Station of Amarillo, Texas, and is now arguably Ruscha's most iconic image. The barren gas station and the appearance of flatness heighten Ruscha's demonstrated interest in the banal and the mundane. The radical foreshortening and sharp diagonal line of the roof dramatize an otherwise vernacular site, unapologetically referential to the Pop Art movement Ruscha helped to popularize. “Mocha Standard” demonstrates a lifelong aesthetic and thematic approach borne of his early career as a graphic artist. Many other famous pop artists, such as Andy Warhol, also began their artistic careers in the graphic arts. As evidenced in this work, Ruscha plays with motifs of language and landscape to communicate a particular urban experience. Utilizing photography, drawing, painting, and film, Ruscha's work transcends the banality of urban life to reveal the constant mass media-driven imagery and information that invade our daily lives.