"Unrepentant Ego: The Self-Portraits of Lucas Samaras" wasted no time and exercised suitably little restraint in announcing its larger-than-life subject/object,
emblazoning the entrance to the exhibition with a colossal photograph of the artist's face.
But Ruscha resists knee-jerk spiritualism (and, one might argue, his own often mentioned dormant Catholicism) by
emblazoning slogans that render the scenes absurd.
It's possible to read the painting allegorically: Plainly painted puppet-boy peering out the window stands for caricature in contemporary figure painting; he's on the lookout, worried, in contrast with the calm, typically Calvin-esque, guitar-playing dude, bright satanic calligraphy
emblazoning his black T-shirt, bloodshot blue eyes, baked.