Pettibon Press Release
EXHIBITIONS IN A BOX Compact exhibitions that generate expansive ideas
RAYMOND PETTIBON: THE PUNK YEARS, 1978-86
"The flyers were one of the best things about working with SST," recalls the lanky Pettibon at his Redondo Beach studio. "It's more of a general audience when it goes on a telephone pole. It's not something that you can buy in a store or see on TV. You see it at a glance and you can't switch it off.”
-from "Black Flag Cover is Pure Pettibon," by Jeff Spurrier, Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1984
ICI's newest series of exhibitions celebrates the fact that interesting projects can come in small parcels. Taking its lead from initiatives such as Marcel Duchamp's Boîte-en- valise and George Maciunas' Fluxkits, each Exhibitions in a Box provides source material from which venues can generate exhibitions tailored to their specific programs and local context. The first in the series, Raymond Pettibon: The Punk Years, 1978-86, taps into the steady stream of this California artist's early graphic arts production, before he appeared on the contemporary art stage. Assembled by Specific Object’s David Platzker, this Exhibition in a Box includes almost 200 examples of Pettibon's powerful designs made between 1978 and 1986, when he was immersed in the Los Angeles punk rock scene, doing the graphic design for Black Flag and other punk bands such as Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Go-Go's, Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Ramones, Subhumans, Throbbing Gristle, Wasted Youth, and many more. Raymond Pettibon Black Flag / Hong Kong Cafe / Tues. While Pettibon remains a cult figure among underground Sept. 25 / Thurs. Sept. 27, Blue Paper, 1979 music devotees for these early designs, over the past twenty years, he has acquired an international reputation as one of the foremost contemporary American artists working with drawing, text, and artist’s books. Crossing back and forth between music and the visual arts, this selection of 44 zines, 120 fliers and posters, stickers and collection of album covers show Pettibon’s raw imagery, heavily shadowed technique, and characteristic visual punch in formation.
Most of the designs were done for SST Records, founded by his brother Greg Ginn, who was also guitarist for Black Flag. Pettibon is also credited with both conceiving the band's name—a riff on the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath and the legendary Black Flag insecticide—as well as designing Black Flag's iconic four black bar "flag" logo. In addition to the two-dimensional contents in the box, CDs of SST bands as well as a Grammy award-winning monologue by Black Flag vocalist, Henry Rollins, enrich the context and show Pettibon in his original milieu.
Conceived to be presented in a wide range of institutions, from museum project spaces to artist- run galleries, The Punk Years, 1978-86 contains materials that illustrate Pettibon’s interests in a subculture overlapping music and art. In different presentations, the box contents will be complemented by other works by Pettibon or historical material from that era from local collections and archives.
The exhibition will begin its tour at the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL (November 13, 2010 – January 22, 2011). Additional venues to be announced.
About the artist
Raymond Pettibon is an American artist who was, from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, closely associated with the punk rock band Black Flag and the record label SST Records, both founded by his older brother Greg Ginn. Beginning in the mid 1980s, he became a well-known figure in the contemporary art scene. Pettibon’s work encompasses a spectrum of American experience, from marginal youth sub-cultures to art, literature, sports, religion, politics, and sexuality.
Pettibon began exhibiting his work in group shows in galleries in the 1980s. In 1992, he was invited to participate in Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s, curated by Paul Schimmel at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Pettibon was included in the Whitney Biennial in 1993 and 1997, and in 1998, his self-titled show opened at the Renaissance Society in Chicago, and traveled to the Drawing Center in New York, NY; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, CA. In 2007, Pettibon participated in the Venice Biennial, Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense, curated by Robert Storr for which the artist installed a unique wall drawing. In 2010, Pettibon will participate in the Liverpool Biennial curated by Lorenzo Fusi. In early 2011, Rizzoli will release a monograph, edited by Ralph Rugoff, that will be the most comprehensive publication of Pettibon’s works to date.
About David Platzker
David Platzker is the director of Specific Object, an innovative gallery, bookshop, and storehouse for a range of items from artist's multiples to unique works of literature, music, and sound. Prior to founding Specific Object, Platzker was the executive director of Printed Matter, a non-profit institution dedicated to the promotion of artists' publications from 1998 to 2004, and he has curated exhibitions of artists including John Baldessari, Marcel Duchamp, Ed Ruscha, and Claes Oldenburg.
About Exhibitions in a Box
ICI’s Exhibitions in a Box provide source material from which venues can generate high-content, low-cost exhibitions, adapting and adding to the materials provided according to the space and facilities available. An evolving series developed by artists, curators and art historians, the content of the boxes Raymond Pettibon variously includes small-scale artworks, videos, sound works, Black Flag Hong Kong Cafe Thurs. Nov. 1, Yellow Paper, instruction works, ephemera and archive materials. These 1979 projects are suitable for all scales of institution, from libraries and artist-run spaces, to art centers, university galleries, museum project spaces, or education centers. The box contents may be added to with contributions from the host venue's collections and archives, or can be the starting point for an exhibition that presents local artists' practices in relation to a broader art issue or event. Other Exhibitions in a Box include Harald Szeemann: Documenta 5, which explores the many facets of a particularly controversial and historically relevant Documenta. For more information on this series, please visit ICI’s website: www.ici-exhibitions.org.
Credit Line
Raymond Pettibon: The Punk Years, 1978-86 is the first in ICI’s Exhibitions in a Box series. Organized by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, this exhibition has been assembled by David Platzker. The exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; the ICI Board of Trustees, and ICI Benefactors Barbara and John Robinson.
About ICI
Founded in 1975, Independent Curators International (ICI), produces exhibitions, events, publications, and training opportunities for diverse audiences around the world. A catalyst for independent thinking, ICI connects emerging and established curators, artists, and institutions, to forge international networks and generate new forms of collaboration. Working across disciplines and historical precedents, the organization is a hub that provides access to the people, ideas, and practices that are key to current developments in the field, inspiring fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art.
* * * For additional information or visual materials, contact Michelle Jubin at 212.254.8200 x 27 or [email protected]. Visit ICI’s website: www.ici-exhibitions.org