PICHLER, Michalis. Twentysix Gasoline Stations.

(New York and Berlin): Printed Matter and Greatest Hits, 2009. First edition. 12mo. [36 pages]. Pichler’s homage to Ed Ruscha’s work Twentysix Gasoline Stations Pichler’s version offers a more modern update, examining twenty-six German gas stations all owned by the same company and all displaying the same signage and architectural elements. At first glance, all twenty-six images appear to depict the same pristine and brightly-coloured generic structure. Only upon further examination, aided by Pichler’s captions, does the reader get the full extent of the joke, which is punctuated by the book’s final image: a disembodied hand holding an excerpt from a 1969 interview with Ruscha in which he explains “the eccentric stations were the first ones I threw out.” A near fine copy in printed wrappers with glassine dust jacket.