Broad strokes: the New Museum showcases the electrifying work of Raymond Pettibon

Raymond Pettibon’s electric union of pen stroke and word has had the Big Apple abuzz since the New Museum opened ‘Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work’ last month. As the artist’s first major museum survey exhibition in New York, the New Museum’s retrospective brings together over 700 drawings, arranged in stunning fashion, ranging from the late 1960s to today – the largest presentation of his work to date.
An indelible fixture in American art since the 1980s, Pettibon’s concurrently graphic and poetic style has rarely been experienced en masse like this. Filling the museum’s three main floors, his drawings articulate how cultural values have shifted across the decades in a raw and emotional way. From the idealistic postwar period of his early childhood to the military and social conflicts that dominate the present, Pettibon’s drawings and installations take on a reinvigorated significance when viewed against a contemporary backdrop.
Pettibon has scrawled artworks directly onto the walls of the New Museum
Curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Massimiliano Gioni, the New Museum’s exhibition includes drawings of numerous scales and the artist’s self-produced zines from his early career, as well as videos made with other artists and musician friends to provide an intimate perspective on his vibrant practice.
Pettibon, who was born in 1957, rose to fame for his work on advertisements and record covers and came to be known for his outspoken style and ties to the 1980s LA punk rock scene – primarily his work with Black Flag and SST records – acerbically voicing and visualising the thoughts of a disillusioned youth of which he was a part (he was born Raymond Ginn, ditching the surname to avoid association with President Ronald Reagan, a figure derided by said punk scene).
Regardless of size or medium, Pettibon’s works are consistently charged with a latent energy, thanks to the incredibly detailed and painterly style that his pen strokes produce. Peppered with cultural fixtures from literature, comics and television on one hand, and dominated by his colourful and highly expressive approach on the other, Pettibon’s complex, smoldering oeuvre serves as powerful commentary on American culture.
The sprawling retrospective is the American artist’s first major museum survey exhibition in New York
The exhibition is spread over the museum’s three main floors
The artist came to be known for his outspoken style and ties to the 1980s Los Angeles punk rock and surf scenes
His raw, emotional work is peppered with cultural fixtures from literature, comics and television
With work dating back to the late 1960s, Pettibon’s drawings articulate how cultural values have shifted across the decades
The artist reflects on America’s political currents in his work
Pettibon rose to fame for his work on advertisements and record covers
In the museum's lobby, Pettibon has made his mark directly on the walls
The exhibition has been curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Massimiliano Gioni
INFORMATION
‘Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work’ is on view until 9 April. For more information, visit the New Museum website
ADDRESS
New Musuem 235 Bowery New York, NY 10002
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
The Stuff That Surrounds, episode three: Inside the home of architect Glenn Sestig
In The Stuff That Surrounds, Wallpaper* explores a life through objects. This episode, we’re invited inside an architectural gem – just what you'd expect from one of the most distinctive voices in the field today
-
Germane Barnes just transformed a humble Indiana parking garage into an enormous sub-woofer system
With Joy Riding, the Miami-based designer’s installation at Exhibit Columbus, Barnes celebrates togetherness by evoking Black car culture
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San Francisco
The artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San Francisco
The artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?
The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
The spread of Butter: the Black-owned art fair where artists see all the profits
The Indianapolis-based art fair is known for bringing Black art to the forefront. As it ventures out of state to make its Los Angeles debut, we speak with founders Mali and Alan Bacon to find out more
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick Collection
The actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
-
'What does it mean that the language of photography is invented by men?' Justine Kurland explores the feminist potential of collage
'The Rose,' at the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) in Kingston, New York, examines the work of over 50 artists using collage as a feminist practice
-
Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raising
At Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene
'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of society
A new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality