I admire Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations, but when asked to respond to this artist's book, I worried that our approaches were too far apart for dialogue. I am interested in the body explicitly and directly, and that was precisely absent from Ruscha's images. However, as I explored Twentysix Gasoline Stations, several of Ruscha's themes resonated with me: anonymity, unspoken family history, mechanical reproduction and the messy tangle of car culture. Once I identified these subjects, I was excited to form my response. Down the Shore represents a journey that many people make in the summer: a day trip to the New Jersey Shore. Along the way, I want you to see the seams, the pressure of my drawing hand and, as with Ruscha, the implications of the missing pieces.