Twentysix (Abandoned) Gasoline Stations

Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations is a photographic essay that pays homage to Ed Ruscha’s groundbreaking 1963 artist’s book Twentysix Gasoline Stations, while offering a contemporary reinterpretation of one of the most influential works in the history of the photobook. Produced over several journeys across the American West, the project documents twenty-six abandoned gas stations located along historic highways and secondary roads stretching across California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and neighboring states. Once symbols of mobility, economic expansion, and the mythology of the open road, these structures now survive as silent witnesses to changing patterns of transportation, commerce, and settlement. Rather than revisiting Ruscha’s original locations, the project deliberately focuses on stations that have outlived their function, exploring themes of obsolescence, memory, and cultural transformation. Their weathered façades, faded signs, and empty forecourts evoke the passing of time while revealing the remarkable persistence of vernacular architecture within the vast landscapes of the American West. Far from being merely ruins, these buildings become markers of a collective history embedded in the territory. Executed with a restrained documentary approach and a careful attention to light, color, and composition, the photographs avoid nostalgia and spectacle, inviting a quiet contemplation of places that have largely disappeared from everyday experience. Conceived as both a tribute to Ruscha’s enduring legacy and an independent body of work, Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations reflects on the evolution of the American landscape and demonstrates how photography can transform overlooked remnants of modernity into enduring subjects of aesthetic, historical, and cultural inquiry. Published in 2018 by Trama Editorial and Museo Universidad de Navarra Text by Alberto Martín 290 x 240 72 pages Softcover English / Spanish edition ISBN 978-84-80815994