Raymond Pettibon

Raymond Pettibon was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1957, but was raised in Hermosa Beach, California. In 1977 he earned a degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. After working as a high school math teacher for a short time, he decided to pursue a career as a commercial artist.

Noted for his drawing techniques, Pettibon started creating artist books—black and white, Xerox-copied and stapled pamphlets. Pettibon filled these pages with drawings and text that alluded to bizarre narratives inspired by pop-culture sources such as comics, cartoons, television, and books. In the mid-1970s, his brother Greg Ginn, guitarist for the now legendary punk band Black Flag, formed the record label SST Records. Pettibon became the record label’s unofficial artist, and he illustrated the covers of records and concert posters for popular bands such as Black Flag, the Minutemen, and Sonic Youth. Since the early 1980s, Pettibon has been an influential figure not only in the art community but also the punk and counterculture art scene.

Text © Laguna Art Museum, 2019