Just landed from L.A., Eddie Ruscha meets me for tacos and margaritas at Decimo. The Kings Cross clock tower glows through panoramic windows, with Haseeb Iqbal in the foreground playing jazz records. A who’s who of hip-hop samples. We order another margarita; three hours of conversation fly by. The next day I take Eddie around Soho, we stop for parmigiana and espresso at Bar Italia before returning to the gallery to unwrap his paintings.

I marvel at the scale of the works and their dazzling colours, they’re moving! I shift them around in the space to make sense of them. Peter Zummo calls, he’s finished rehearsing and ready to join us. At this point Eddie and Peter hadn’t met in person, despite working together on the LP ‘Thinking A View’. Peter meets us two doors down from the gallery at Bar Termini, he’s greeted with smiles and a negroni poured to the brim.

Peter and Eddie have the familiarity of old friends, and there’s excitement in the air. The barmaid tops us up before we head to China Town for dinner. Plans for the week unfold over dim sum at New Lung Fung, in a brightly lit room with purple patterned carpets. We decide on a time for Eddie and Peter’s rehearsal in the gallery. They plug in and jam for 40-minutes, Eddie lays down beats while Peter adds texture, shifting between brass instruments and spoken word. Contemporary beat poetry from overheard conversations.

The ‘Sound / Waves’ exhibition opening approaches, I keep the gallery open house and can only wonder who’ll join. It’s 5:45pm and the buzzer begins to ring, the space quickly fills and in a flash it’s gone 8pm. A bottle of Dangerous Don mezcal makes its way around the room for a final salud! We set up all over again two days later, this time for Eddie and Peter’s performance. I reflect on how special it is to have them both over in London, and to host the performance with the backdrop of Eddie’s large-scale paintings. The gallery fills up and guests take their seat on zafu cushions. I dim the spotlights, say a few words and off they go. The room listens in silence entranced by a performance that for a moment, alters our perception of time and brings the paintings to life.

‘Eddie Ruscha: Sound / Waves’ at Cedric Bardawil, 1–3 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JB

EDDIE RUSCHA SHOW AND PERFORMANCE WITH PETER ZUMMO AT CEDRIC BARDAWIL GALLERY LONDON