Raymond Pettibon
Some early works
Since the later 1970s, the American artist Raymond Pettibon has been making drawings that achieve a bilingualism of text and image. The relationship between text and image is not clarified in these works, but dissolved. This exhibition at Georg Kargl BOX presents a selection of drawings created between 1980 and 1990. Born in Tucson in 1957, Pettibon grew up in the Los Angeles area and got a degree in economics at UCLA. During his student years he drew political cartoons for the college newspaper. At the beginning of his artistic career, he designed flyers, record covers, and posters, some of which were collected in fanzines. His medium has always been the drawing. This placed him initially on the margins of the art world, for drawing was then still conceived as an auxiliary medium to painting rather than a medium of its own accord. The works now on view at Georg Kargl BOX are from an early period of the artist’s career, when he still worked primarily in black ink; with their contrasts of light and dark, these works reflect the strong influence of the world of film noir.
For the texts in his works, he draws on a non-linear repertoire of fiction and scholarly work. “These particles of meaning from a larger context thus get caught in the orbit of his thought, and surface, more or less varied, in the ribbons of that surround his drawings.”[1] In his motifs, Pettibon ranges between high and low culture, between the trivial and the sublime, religion and commerce, comics and politics.
In their visual appearance, his works are strongly reminiscent of comics, both in their execution and in their combination of image and text. The basis for his drawings include photographs of the most varied origins, newspaper cuttings, film and video stills. In the constitutive gap between the image and the text, which have no meaningful relationship to one another, new spaces of imagination and thought open for the beholder. He compares his methods of sampling to those of musicians who insert part of a recording in a new context. His proximity to this genre comes from his brother, who as the lead singer of the band Black Flag secured the young Pettibon jobs for designing record covers.
In his visual language, Pettibon is always quite clear, because he compacts social relations in the simplest motifs. The artist grasps many of the general structures of behavior of American society from a subcultural perspective, staging them with great accuracy in his work. “But Raymond Pettibon is not interested in standing out as a critic of the American way of life and its rebellious counter universes. He takes a position of complete disengagement. Pettibon registers, caricatures, disturbs, but never takes a position.”[2]
[1] Whatever It Is You’re Looking for You Won’t Find It Here: Raymond Pettibon, Kunsthalle Wien (Nuremberg: Verlag für Moderne Kunst, 2006), 7
[2] Ibid., 185
Biography
born in 1957, lives and works in Long Beach, California
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020
Tennis Elbow: Raymond Pettibon, The Journal Gallery, New York
Pacific Ocean Pop, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
2019
Noir, David Zwirner Viewing Room
And What is Drawing For?, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Frenchette, David Zwirner, Paris
2017
Th'Explosiyv Shoyrt T, David Zwirner Gallery, New York
2016
HOMO AMERICANUS, Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
2015
From my bumbling attempt to write a disastrous musical, these illustrations muyst suffice, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Home and Away. Raymond Pettibon: Living the American Dream. Marko Mäetamm: Feel at Home, Kumu Kunstimuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
Retrospective, Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
2014
Are your Motives Pure?, Raymond Pettibon Surfers 1985-2014, Venus over Manhattan, New York
Neue Arbeiten / New Works, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
2013
To Wit, David Zwirner, New York
High Lane Billboard, New York
2012
Some early works, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern
2011
Desire in Pursuyt of the Whole, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Looker-upper, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
2010
David Zwirner, New York
The Punk Years (1978 - 1986), Florida Atlantic University Schmidt Center Gallery, Boca Raton
2009
Sadie Coles HQ, London
Part II: Cuting Room Floor Show, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
2008
Los Angeles Underground 1990´s Films by Raymond Pettibon / Henry Vincent, Galerie Marion Meyer, Paris
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Punk Epocha, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Service, Genf
No Title, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
2007
V-BOOM, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
Here´s your Irony Back (The Big Picture), David Zwirner, New York
Sadie Coles, London
2006
Whatever it is you’re looking for you won’t find it here, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
V-BOOM, CAC Málaga, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
2005
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
2004
David Zwirner Gallery, New York
Winged Heart und Andere Drucke, Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, Zurich
Selected works from 1982 to 2003 & Speaks Volumes, 1995, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services, Geneva
2003
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
The American Short Stories: Raymond Pettibon, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Florida
Sadie Coles HQ, London
Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna
Drawings 1979-2003, Museion – Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst Bozen, Bozen
Early Work, Zwirner & Wirth Gallery, New York
2002
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
Plots laid thick, MACBA, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona
2001
The Whitechapel Gallery, London
Wall Drawing, MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
2000
Plots on Loan I, Plots on Loan II, Galerie Tanit, Munich
Sadie Coles HQ, London
Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zurich
1998
Zeichnungen der 80er Jahre, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Galleria d´Arte Ristori, Alberga
Recent works, 11 Duke Street Limited, London
1997
Galeria 1991, Lissabon
Wandzeichnungen ( with Michael Craig-Martin), Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf
1996
Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
Tramway, Glasgow
1995
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
1994
Galerie Metropol, Vienna
Arena Arte Contemporáneo, Guadalajara, Mexico
1993
Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco
New works on paper, Feature Inc. Gallery, New York
1992
On the Scent, Galerie Metropol, Vienna
Esther Shipper Gallerie, Cologne
1991
N.A.M.E Gallery, Chicago
Galleria Massimo de Carlo, Milan
1990
A Long Parenthesis, Richard/Bennett Gallery, Los Angeles
1989
Feature Inc. Gallery, New York
1986
Semaphore Gallery, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019
Schere Stein Papier, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna
Daumier - Pettibon, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Winterthur
2018
Quel Amour!?, Nuseu Colecao Berardo, Lisbon
Reduction, Gesellschaft für Projektive Ästhetik, Georg Kargl, Vienna
2016
Winter in America, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
2015
Drawing / The Bottom Line, SMAK, Ghent
America Is Hard To See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
California Printmakers, 1950-2000, Laguna Art Museum, California
Hello Walls, Gladstone Gallery, New York
Love Story – Works from Erling Kagge’s Collection, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
PUNK. It’s Traces in Contemporary Art, CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid
Walk The Line. New Ways of Drawing, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
2014
BLACKOUT, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels
A History. Art, architecture, design from the 1980s until today, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
A Machinery for Living, Petzel Gallery, New York
New Pop: Illustrated Americana, Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York
No Problem: Cologne/New York 1984-1989, David Zwriner, New York
Non Sequitur: Abstraction in Contemporary Sequential Art, Gallery Protocol, Gainesville, Florida
Ordinary Freaks – The Principle of Coolness in Pop Culture, Theatre and Museum, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz
Texte in der Kunst, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Paint New York: Painting from the American East Coast, Kunstforeningen GL STRAND, Copenhagen
Somos Libres II, curated by Neville Wakefield, Pinacoteca Gianni e Marella Agnelli, Turin
Pretty Vacant: The Graphic Language of Punk, Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia
Reliable Tension – Re JJ or: How to Win a Conversation About Jasper Johns, 36 Edgewood Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven, Conneticut
Franz Graf: See What Sees you, 21er Haus, Vienna
Codex, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco
Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor, Gallery Met, The Metropolitan Opera, New York
Stars: Contemporary Prints by Derrière L’Étoile Studio – Part 3, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Ten Portfolios, Carolina Nitsch, New York
2013
Accrochage, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
Art and ist Discontents, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara
The Circle Walked Casually, Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, Berlin / Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires
Double Hamburger Deluxe, Marlborough Chelsea, New York
Set Pieces, Cardi Black Box, Milan
The Whole Earth: California and the Disappearance of the Outside, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2012
Behold, America! Three Centuries of American Art from Three San Diego Museums, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, Timken Museum of Art, San Diego
California, Charles Riva Collection, Brussels
The Big Ones!, The International Centre for Graphic Arts, Ljublijana
The Poster Show, Galerie Carlier - Gebauer, Berlin
2011
Works from Parkett Collection, montehermoso, Vitoria - Gasteiz
Kompass - Zeichnungen aus dem Museum of Mordern Art New York, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin
based in Berlin 2011, based in Berlin, Berlin
Collector, Lille 3000, Lille
The Air We Breathe, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Am Ende war das Wort, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal
The Sound of Downloading Makes Me Want to Upload, Sprengel Museum, Hannover
American Exuberance, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington
Backstage Riders, Kunstmagazin, Berlin
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,Galerie Utopia, Berlin
schrift // bild, Galerie Konzett Graz, Graz
Estrella Distante, kurimanzutto, Mexiko
If The Sun Had A Sound It Would Sound Like This, Clint Roenisch, Toronto
Zwei Sammler. Thomas Olbricht und Harald Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
The forgotten years 2007 - 2011, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Arsenale. Grafik aus der Sammlung Museion, Museion d'Arte moderna e contemporanea, Bolzano
Wort - BILD, Galerie Julius Hummel, Vienna
Houdini: Art and Magic, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles
Jewish Museum, Sand Francisco; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison
2010
TRIXIE, Brut/Künstlerhaus, Vienna
Walking the line II, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne
Fine Line, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Tom of Finland and then some, Feature Inc, New York
Je mehr ich zeichne. Zeichnung als Weltentwurf, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen
Next Generation, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen
Mackey Apartments Garage Renovation Opening, MAK Center, Los Angeles
Amerikanische Grafik seit 1960 - Aus der Graphischen Sammlung der ETH Zürich, Kunsthaus Grenchen
BRAVE NEW WORLD - From the perspective of Mudam Collection, Musée d´Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
Neugierig? - Kunst des 21. Jahrhunderts aus privaten Sammlungen, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle, Bonn
Shudder: new commissions and exhibition, The Drawing Room, London
101 Collection: Route 1, CCA Wattis, San Francisco
Insight - Outsight. Arbeiten aus der Sammlung Florian Peters-Messer, Städtische Galerie im Park, Viersen
Wo ist der Wind, wenn er nicht weht?, Kunstverein Hamburg
In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists, X Initiative, New York
Twentysix Gasoline Stations Ed Altri Libri DArtista - Una Collezione, Museo Regionale di Messina
Nur Wahrheit – ehrlich, tod-sicher: Maske, Handschuh, Skelett, 8. Salon, Hamburg
2009
Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
MOCA's First Thirty Years, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Die fpmcollection zeigt in Berlin, fpmcollection Viersen, Berlin
Ludwigs Grafik 1. Von Warhol bis Pettibon, Ludwig Forum, Aachen
formuliert. Konvergenzen von Schrift und Bild, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
NARCOTICA at SCHALTER, BASEL, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
Images et (re)présentations. The 1980s - part two, Le Magasin, Grenoble
The Making of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
Vraoum ! trésors de la bande dessinée et art contemporain, La Maison Rouge, Paris
Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Unbuilt Roads, e-flux, New York
Barry McGee, Ed Templeton, Raymond Pettibon, CIRCLECULTURE Cc: Berlin
Dark Americana, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco
In A Room Anything Can Happen, CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson
Nature, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2008
Beautiful Losers: Arte actual y cultura urbana, La Caa Encendida, Madrid
Political Corect, BFAS – Blondeau Fine Art Service, Geneva
Forgotten Bar Project – Sammlung Taubenstrasse, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
Kavalierstart, 1978-1982, Aufbruch in die Kunst der 80er, Museum Morsbroich Leverkusen
Heroes and Villains, Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York
listen darling… the world is yours, Ellipse Foundation Art Centre, Alcoitao
ROCK MY RELIGION, Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca
Sympathy for the Devil : Art et rock and roll depuis 1967, Musée d´Art Contemporain, Montreal
FACES AND FIGURES (REVISITED), Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York
The Wizard of Oz, CCA Wattis, San Francisco
NO LEFTOVERS, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Freeway Balconies, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
Landscope, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
True Romance, Kunsthalle Kiel, Kiel
Peripherer Blick und kollektiver Körper, Museion, Bolzano
KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime+Comics+Video Games+Art, Vancouver Art Gallery
Lots Of Things Like This // Dave Eggers, apexart, New York
The Florence & Daniel Guerlain Collection, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, New York
Beautiful People, Centre d´Art la Panera, Lerida
Animations / Fictions, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest
UNTITLED (ON PAPER), MOTI HASSON, New York
2007
If Everybody had an Ocean, Musée d´art contemporain, Bordeaux
Exhibitionism, CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson
True Romance, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Sympathy for the Devil : Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Autopsie unseres Umgangs mit Toten, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden
FRANZ WEST: SOUFFLÉ, Kunstraum Innsbruck
SEE history 2007, Kunsthalle Kiel
Das abc der Bilder, Pergamonmuseum, Berlin
Ed Ruscha / Raymond Pettibon, San Jose Museum of Art
52. Biennale, Venice
Panic Attack!, Barbican Centre, London
there is never a stop and never a finish - In memoriam Jason Rhoades, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
INTO ME / OUT OF ME, MACRO, Rome
Magritte and Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
2006
Dark Places, Santa Monica Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles
Anos 80: Uma Topologia / The 80s: A Topology, Museu Serralves, Porto
Los Angeles 1955 – 1985, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Mental Image. Wortwerke und Textbilder, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
2005
Thrust – The 26th Biennal of Graphic Arts, Lubiljana
Bidibidobidiboo, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Drawing from the Modern, 1975–2005, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Big Bang: Destruction and Creation in the 20th Century Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Les Grands Spectacles: 120 Jahre Kunst und Massenkultur, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
2004
The Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Die Ästhetik des B-Movies in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz
Off the Record: Sound Arc, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
Drunk vs. Stoned, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York
Disparities & Deformations: Our Grotesque, SITE Sante Fe International Biennial, Santa Fe (curated by Robert Storr)
Eye of the Needle, Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles
Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture, Contemporary Art Center Cincinnati, Ohio
2003
(In Search of) The Perfect Lover, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Visual Poetics: Art and the World, Miami Art Museum, Florida
For the Record: Drawing Contemporary Life, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Inaugural Exhibition, Regents Projects, Los Angeles
2002
Kopfreisen. Jules Verne, Adolf Wölfli und andere Grenzgänger, Kunstmuseum Bern
Plus Ultra, Kunstraum Innsbruck
documenta XI, Kassel
2001
I Love New York, Zwirner & Wirth, New York
The Beauty of Intimacy. Lens and Paper, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
2000
Drawings 2000, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
Mirror’s Edge, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
1999
Prepared, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Get together, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Stop the Violence, MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
Weg aus dem Bild, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
1998
Exterminating Angel, Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris
Review, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
1997
Heaven: Public View, Private View, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
Nicole Eisenman, Karen Kilimnik, Raymond Pettibon, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
1996
Sugar Mountain, White Columns, New York
Sammlung Speck, Museum Ludwig Köln, Cologne
1995
Komix, Brooke Alexander Editions, New York
Smells like Vinyl, Roger Merians Gallery, New York
1994
Mapping, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1993
Drawing the Line Against AIDS, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
1992
Helter Skelter: L.A. Arts in the 1990’s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Live in your head, Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna
1991
AIDS Timeline, Whitney Museum of american Art, New York
1990
Drinking and Driving, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Ohio
1989
Problems with Reading/Rereading, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
1988
Near Miss, Feature Gallery, Chicago
1986
Social Distortion, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles
Selected Publications
2008
Raymond Pettibon. Punk Epocha, Ausst.Kat., BFAS, Geneva
2007
Raymond Pettibon. V-BOOM, ed. Veit Görner and Frank-Thorsten Moll, CAC Málaga, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Kehler Verlag, Heidelberg
Interviews, ed. Gerald Matt, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, p.266-275
2006
Raymond Pettibon, (eds.) Gerald Matt, Thomas Mießgang, Kunsthalle Wien, Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg
2005
Raymond Pettibon, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
Turn to the Title Page, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2003
Faster, Jim, Hamilton Press, Venice, California
The Pages Which Contain Truth are Black, Museion – Museum für Moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst Bozen
2002
Raymond Pettibon: Plots Laid Thick, ed. Robert Groenenboom, MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona
2001
Raymond Pettibon, ed. Robert Storr, Phaidon, New York
Plots on Loan, ed. Alexander Brooke Editions, David Zwirner Gallery, New York
2000
Raymond Pettibon: The Books 1978–98, ed. Roberto Orth, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne
1999
Raymond Pettibon: A Reader, eds. Ann Temkin, Hamza Walker, The Rennaissance Society at the University of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Chicago and Philadelphia
1998
Raymond Pettibon: A Reader, ed. Ann Temkin, Hamaza Walker, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
1995
Raymond Pettibon, ed. Ulrich Loock, Kunsthalle Bern, 14/16 Verneuil, Paris
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