Raymond Pettibon

Raymond Pettibon emerged from Southern California DIY culture and its punk-rock sensibility, and his work still embraces a youthful edginess and sense of political engagement. Drawing from disparate cultural sources—which range from Marcel Proust and William Blake to the Bible—the artist makes cartoon-inspired ink drawings on paper which evoke the aesthetics of fanzines and concert flyers. Baseball players, trains, crashing waves, political figures, and comic book characters make frequent appearances, often accompanied by cryptic, ironic snippets of handwritten text. Pettibon has been the subject of solo shows at the New Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Kunsthalle Wien. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Documenta, and the Whitney Biennial, where he was the recipient of the Bucksbaum Award in 2004. On the secondary market, Pettibon’s work has sold for over $1 million. Alongside his fine-art practice, Pettibon has illustrated album art for Sonic Youth and Black Flag, among other musical acts.