Ed Ruscha’s metro plot paintings bring together a range of motifs that occur throughout his work such as silhouettes, text and horizontal landscapes. They also reference his conceptual photographs that document the streets of Los Angeles. In ‘BLVD.-AVE.-ST.’ an aerial-axial view of metropolitan Los Angeles is defined by intersecting parallel lines of the grid system and the text abbreviations of types of road. The painting is dominated by the grey concrete roads while a reddish-yellow band across the top of the painting alludes to the heat of the Californian horizon.