Raymond Pettibon draws inspiration from subjects such as film, sports, sex, and the American way of life. The strong connection to comics in his works is a deliberate choice. His pieces fluctuate between visual imagery and textual elements, but unlike comics, the text often has no direct relation to the drawings and can appear cryptic. Frequently, these texts are literary quotes, drawing on a wide range of literary history—from the Bible and James Joyce to Marcel Proust and 1980s literature. The intertextual references require knowledge of their various sources, not to clarify the meaning, but to provoke confusion and suggest an ironic or ambiguous perspective.
Pettibon primarily works with Indian ink, and many of his drawings remain monochromatic, with color added through crayons or watercolors. In his recent works, he has increasingly incorporated collage, a technique he has used sporadically in the past, particularly in his paper-based pieces. Additionally, Pettibon has ventured into video and theatre. Regardless of the medium, his works consistently challenge and provoke intellectual engagement.
The artist’s works are held in numerous prestigious museum collections, including the Baltimore Museum of Art; Centre Pompidou in Paris; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin; Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami; The Israel Museum in Jerusalem; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Moderna Museet in Stockholm; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid; The Museum of Modern Art in New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate in the United Kingdom; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Born 1957 in Tucson, USA
Lives and works in New York, USA
Selected solo exhibitions
2020
Pacific Ocean Pop, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
2019
And What is Drawing For?, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Daumier – Pettibon, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Winterthur, CH (cat)
2018
…No Hugs Coming, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, DE
2017
A Pen of All Work, New Museum, New York, USA; Bonnefanten, Maastricht, NL
TH ‘EXPLOSIYV SHOZRT T, David Zwirner, New York, USA
The Cloud of Misreading, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, RU
2016
Homo Americanus, Deichtorhallen / Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, DE; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, AT
2015
From my bumbling attempt…, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
Home and Away…, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, EE
2014
Neue Arbeiten, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, DE
Are Your Motives Pure? Surfers 1985–2013, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, USA
2012
Whuytuyp, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, CH
Raymond Pettibon, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2011
Looker-Upper, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, DE
2010
Frame, Drawings in Motion, The Drawing Center, New York, USA
Hard in the Paint, David Zwirner, New York, USA
2009
Raymond Pettibon, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2008
Recent Work / Seminal Early Work, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
Under Pain of Death, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, USA
2007
Here’s your irony back, David Zwirner, New York, USA
V-Boom, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, DE
2006
Whatever It Is You’re Looking For…, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, AT
Raymond Pettibon, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
The Holy Bible and THE END (mit Ed Ruscha), Pomona College Museum of Art; Worcester Art Museum; San Jose Museum of Art, USA
2005
Raymond Pettibon, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Raymond Pettibon, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, USA
2004
New Work, David Zwirner, New York, USA
Winged Heart…, Graphische Sammlung, Zürich, CH
2003
The American Short Stories: Saul Steinberg / Raymond Pettibon, MOCA North Miami, USA
2002
Plots Laid Thick, MACBA, Barcelona, ES; Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, JP; Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, NL
Raymond Pettibon, Musée d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, FR
2001
The Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Museum Ludwig, Köln, DE
L.A. Stories, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2000
The Books 1978–2001, SMMoA, Santa Monica, USA; David Zwirner, New York, USA; u. a.
Raymond Pettibon, Hauser & Wirth, Zürich, CH
Raymond Pettibon, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
1998
Raymond Pettibon, The Renaissance Society, Chicago; The Drawing Center, New York; PMA, Philadelphia; MOCA, Los Angeles, USA
1997
Raymond Pettibon, David Zwirner, New York, USA
1995
Raymond Pettibon, Kunsthalle Bern (kurat. Ulrich Loock), Bern, CH
Raymond Pettibon, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
Raymond Pettibon, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, DE
1992
Raymond Pettibon / Matrix 151, Berkeley Art Museum & PFA, Berkeley, USA
1986
Raymond Pettibon, Semaphore Gallery, New York, USA
Selected group exhibitions
2025
How’s my Painting?, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, DE
2024
The Atomic Age, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, FR
2023
Tempo. Tempo! Tempo?, Hall Art Foundation, Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg, DE
2022
Animation Generation, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, USA
Among Friends, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA
2021
Comics Trip!, Collection Lambert, Avignon, FR
2020
100 Drawings from Now, The Drawing Center, New York, USA
00s. Cranford Collection: The 2000s, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain, FR
Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA
Beating around the bush #6, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, NL
My Cartography: The Erling Kagge Collection, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid; Foundation Vincent van Gogh Arles, FR
2019
Never Again. Art against War and Fascism, Museum on the Vistula, Warsaw, PL
Beyond the Cape! Comics and Contemporary Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art, USA
Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, MAD Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
2018
Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy, The MET, New York, USA
Contemporary Artists’ Visions, Getty Villa, Los Angeles, USA
2017
Tracing the Century, Tate Liverpool / mima Middlesbrough, UK
2016
Viehof Collection, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, DE
Good Dreams, Bad Dreams – American Mythologies, Aïshti Foundation, Lebanon
Void California, The Wattis Institute, San Francisco, USA
2015
No Problem: Cologne/New York 1984–1989, David Zwirner, New York, USA
PUNK. Its Traces in Contemporary Art, CA2M, Madrid, ES
Walk the Line. Neue Wege der Zeichnung, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, DE
2014
A History. Art, architecture, design from the 1980s until today, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
The Crime Was Almost Perfect, Witte de With, Rotterdam, NL
Beautiful Losers (Tour), diverse Museen, USA
2013
Tracing the Century, Tate Liverpool / mima, UK (s. o.)
2012
This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA
The Air We Breathe, SFMOMA, San Francisco, USA
2011
Collecting Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
2010
Neugierig?, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, DE
The Artist’s Museum, MOCA Los Angeles, USA
Houdini: Art and Magic, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA
2009
The Making of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, DE
53rd Venice Biennale, Pinault Foundation, Palazzo Grassi & Punta della Dogana, IT
2008
Freeway Balconies, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, DE
KRAZY!, Vancouver Art Gallery, CA
2007
If Everybody Had an Ocean: Brian Wilson, Tate St. Ives, UK; CAPC Bordeaux, FR
52nd International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, IT
Fast Forward: Collections for the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA
2006
Anos 80: Uma Topologia, Museu Serralves, Porto, PT
Los Angeles 1955–1985, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Into Me / Out of Me, KW – Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE
2005
Drawing from the Modern, 1975–2005, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Big Bang: Destruction and Creation in 20th Century Art, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
SITE Santa Fe, 5th International Biennial, Santa Fe, USA
2004
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Raymond Pettibon, Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, DE
2002
Documenta XI, Kassel, DE
