Born in 1937 in Nebraska. He began to draw comics of everyday life in 1947 and in 1948 took painting lessons from a portraitist. He read books on Dadaism and was influenced by this artistic movement. Went to Mexico City in 1955.

In 1957 he came into contact with the work of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Studied book printing in 1959 and between 1960-61 worked for an advertising agency. Made reliefs on wood, book objects, collages and photographs. He made his first pictures using words, e.g. Honk, Radio and Olof and in 1962 completed his first picture using three-dimensional lettering.

In 1963 he published his book, Twenty-six Gasoline Stations. Began his drawings of words on strips of paper. For two years he designed the layout for the art magazine Artforum, using the pseudonym Eddie Russia. He produced further books and the screenprint, Hollywood. In 1969 he published the folder, Stains using organic substances.

He taught printing and drawing at the University of California, Los Angeles. For the 1970 Venice Biennale he made the Chocolate Room, consisting of 360 sheets of paper printed by silkscreen with chocolate and stuck to the entire wall-surface of a room. In 1976 he built himself a house in the desert. In 1979 he painted his first wide-screen picture. In 1982 the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art staged the exhibition I Don't Want No Retrospective - The Works of Edward Ruscha.