May 24, 2022

Raymond Pettibon | 'Point Break' Taps into the Motif of the Surfer

by Madeleine Schulz

Raymond Pettibon, *No Title (You compel us...)*, 2006
© Raymond Pettibon
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner

LA-based artist Raymond Pettibon’s most recent volume with David Zwirner Books is an homage to the waves of Southern California. Point Break: Raymond Pettibon, Surfers and Waves taps into the motif of the surfer—a mainstay in the painter’s work over the years—navigating a colossal wave. The volume is a culmination of pieces from his Surfers series to which he’s been adding since 1985.

Pettibon is famed for his dry critiques of American culture and his interplay between ‘high- and low-brow’ culture (terms the artist himself would very possibly balk at). He does so with wit, producing sharp-edged cultural commentary which is simultaneously aesthetically pleasing. This volume brings together a host of reflections on the smallness and feebleness of humans in the face of the grandiosity of mother nature—an element entirely beyond our realm of control.

Raymond Pettibon, *No Title (Think, how were...)*, 2011
© Raymond Pettibon
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner

Inspired by Southern Californian surf culture, Pettibon paints poetic utterances—of both his own creation and literary citation—atop these giant waves, doubling down on his philosophical ruminations on the absurdity of day-to-day life—all while capturing the beauty of both the ocean and the sport.

Point Break is slated for release on June 7, and will present over 100 surfers from Pettibon’s seminal series. Coinciding with the book’s release, Utopia editions will debut a limited-edition set of lithographs, and the artist’s work will be viewable in an online viewing room.