Raymond Pettibon

Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2007

Chicago, The Renaissance Society, Raymond Pettibon, September - November 1998
Paris, Centre Pompidou, Los Angeles, March - July 2006

This work is in very good condition overall. The sheet is held to the backing board with photo corners. There is pale time staining to the sheet. There is some faint discoloration and light staining in the lower left border. There are some soft creases, particularly in the upper and lower left. Framed under Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1976, Raymond Pettibon's brother, Greg Ginn, founded the now legendary punk rock band Black Flag. By using the artwork of Pettibon almost exclusively for their album covers, posters and concert fliers, the band kick-started this then 19-year-old artist's career, propelling his work into the public eye. Over the next decade, Pettibon's drawings would come to define the counterculture aesthetic of the 1980s punk rock scene.  With the support of Black Flag's record label, STT Records, he published over 100 fanzines and lent his drawings to the covers of records for bands such as Sonic Youth, Minutemen, and Meat Puppets.
  Though self-taught, Pettibon's careful study of artists including Edward Hopper, Goya, and Rembrandt anchor him firmly within the context of fine art. Like a punk rock Andy Warhol, Pettibon married a pop aesthetic with sometimes tragic and often unsettling subject matter in his drawings. However, unlike his pop art predecessors, Pettibon uses this visual language as quotation rather than commentary. It is his shorthand to reach the viewer in familiar terms.
   While most closely associated in the public mind with rock music, Pettibon often sites literature instead as the defining influence for his work. Like a still from a film noir, No Title, 1978 exemplifies the artist's fascination with narrative. It draws viewers in with implications of an underlying plot, leaving them grasping for a before and after. As the artist himself explained, "The work is supposed to be finished by the reader. I'm meeting them halfway but it's supposed to expand from some small scene on the paper. It's a starting point towards creating a world in the imagination." (Pettibon in Hunter Drohojowska, “Drawn to Words: Pairing sketches with texts, Raymond Pettibon keeps his art between the lines--where his mother could find it,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1991)
   The present work, executed in 1978, is one of the earliest examples of Pettibon's mature drawings. A Xerox copy of this image has been featured in an iconic Black Flag concert poster and the print version can be found in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. While the picture’s crisp composition and bold black ink allowed for attractive reproductions, it is only in this original drawing, however, that can we fully witness the artist’s meticulous hand and precise technique.