"Twentysix Gasoline Stations," created by Ed Ruscha in 1963, stands as a pioneering work in the realm of artist's books. The book meticulously catalogs a series of mundane yet iconic American scenes—gasoline stations—captured between Ruscha's residence in Los Angeles and his childhood home in Oklahoma City. This seminal work is composed of 26 black-and-white photographs, each simply captioned with the station's name and location, presented without additional commentary or text. Ruscha's methodical approach to documenting these everyday structures on his travels along U.S. Route 66 mirrors the working methods of documentary photography, focusing on the unembellished aspects of American consumer culture.

The book's minimalist design, with its red-lettered title on the cover and spine, and its physical dimensions (approximately 7 x 5 1/2 x 3/16 inches), make it a remarkable object. Notably, the first edition was released as 400 numbered copies, followed by subsequent editions in 1967 (500 copies) and 1969 (3,000 copies), each encased in a semi-transparent glassine dust jacket for protection. This project marked Ruscha's intention to democratize the art form, making it accessible and reproducible, diverging from the conventional notion of art as a luxurious asset. This innovative approach underscored the potential of the photobook as an art object in its own right, challenging traditional relationships between photography and its publication.

Ruscha's work has generated varied interpretations, including comparisons to the Stations of the Cross, suggesting a latent religious subtext, and analogies to road movies and pop versions of Walker Evans' American photographs. Despite its initial reception—where it faced rejection from traditional institutions like the Library of Congress for its unorthodox form—the book eventually gained cult status and is now celebrated as a groundbreaking contribution to the artist's book genre and conceptual art. Ruscha's "Twentysix Gasoline Stations" has left an indelible mark on the art world, influencing the trajectory of artist-produced books and the conceptual art movement​ (Wikipedia)​​ (Collections ArtsMIA)​​ (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)​​ (Victoria and Albert Museum)​.