No title (Why we hate …), 2005
Pen and ink on paper, 76.2 x 56.5 cm
Private Collection
@RaymondPettibon 19. Feb.
Kanye broke?? Do wht Rick Ross diyd. LA County Sheriffs be home w/KKK LA County prison guard 5 yrs (can u do th’time?) then reuyp career
“It’s too easy just to dismiss my work as punk rock or whatever. Which is what most people like to do. They like to categorize and historicize and put it in some dumbass context. It’s much easier just to put someone in a group or context than to deal with the complexity of the mind and especially the work.“—RP
After forty years of caustic social commentary the legendary Sol-Cal artist’s cartoons are as spontaneous and surreal as they were when he began. With his sights firmly set on sex, death, violence, war, Pettibon has spent his career revealing America’s dark underbelly. Returning to the same themes over and over again, he expresses his frustration with politics, religion and violence using gallow’s humour. Since 2011, he has extended his linguistic arabesques to Twitter, where his 30,000-plus followers can observe him mocking everyone from Kanye West and Hilary Clinton to Roland Barthes. To celebrate the launch of his comprehensive exhibition at Hamburg’s Deichtorhallen, Sleek presents a series of Pettibonisms, both as 140 character specials and from his iconic images.
All artworks taken from “Raymond Pettibon: Homo Americanus. Collected Works” (692 pages, ca. 600 illustrations), published by David Zwirner Books.
No Title (Self-defense. Kick a …), 1984
Pen and ink on paper, 35.6 x 26 cm
Private Collection
Courtesy: Hauser & Wirth
@RaymondPettibon 22. Jan.
“You can talk th’talk,brother, buyt can you walk th’walk,whuyt–”
to Roland Barthes, last words.
Black Flag at Hong Kong Cafe, 1979
Offset print, 27.9 x 18 cm
Private Collection, New York
@RaymondPettibon 9. Feb.
Black Flag fanboys sck iyt uyp lck iyt off mthrfck tht’s my dck whuytuyyp
No Title (Taking a bath …), 1986
Pen and ink on paper, 27.9 x 21.6 cm
Courtesy: the artist and Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
@RaymondPettibon 17. Jan.
Lost my erection tuning into Larry King’s infomersh bouyt new natural viagra pill–now Im stuck for 30 to find how to order the wonder drug.
Raymond Pettibon – Homo Americanus is currently on display at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg until 11 September.
This shortened feature was originally published in Sleek issue #49. View the entire story by purchasing a copy on our online shop today