Raymond Pettibon
Available Works
Available Works
Available Works
Untitled (You're Showing, I'm Telling), n.d.
Screenprint on white wove paper
Signed lower right: Raymond Pettibon
Image/Sheet: 24" H x 18" W
Provenance: Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York
About This Piece
In Untitled (You’re Showing, I’m Telling), Raymond Pettibon brings together image and text in the sharp, irreverent visual language that has defined his practice since the late 20th century. Rendered in his characteristic graphic style, the composition pairs hand-drawn imagery with a fragment of text that feels both narrative and disjointed, inviting multiple interpretations. The tension between what is seen and what is stated becomes central to the work, as Pettibon destabilizes the relationship between illustration and meaning.
Emerging from the artist’s deep engagement with American counterculture, literature, and mass media, the work reflects Pettibon’s ability to fuse high and low references into a singular, psychologically charged image. His use of stark line work and open space emphasizes both immediacy and ambiguity, allowing the viewer to oscillate between humor, critique, and unease. At once intimate and confrontational, Untitled (You’re Showing, I’m Telling) exemplifies Pettibon’s enduring exploration of language, authorship, and the fractured narratives embedded within contemporary life.
Artwork Enquiry
“
I don't want to express violence or anger or hate in my art. I want to express forgiveness.
— RAYMOND PETTIBON
About the Artist
Raymond Pettibon (b. 1957)
Raymond Pettibon (b. 1957, Tucson, Arizona) is one of the most influential American artists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, celebrated for his distinctive ink drawings that combine expressive imagery with fragments of text. After growing up in Southern California, Pettibon became closely associated with the region’s punk rock scene, creating album covers, flyers, and promotional material for bands including Black Flag, which was founded by his brother, Greg Ginn. What began as work rooted in underground music culture quickly evolved into a broader artistic practice that explored American history, literature, politics, religion, sports, and popular culture through a uniquely incisive visual language.
Working primarily in ink, watercolor, and pencil on paper, Pettibon pairs handwritten text with bold, graphic compositions that often resemble comic strips or pulp illustrations. His works draw inspiration from sources as varied as William Blake, Henry James, baseball, surfing, and the mythology of American power, creating narratives that are simultaneously humorous, unsettling, and intellectually layered. Rather than offering straightforward commentary, Pettibon invites viewers to question the relationships between image and language, exposing the contradictions and absurdities embedded in contemporary culture.
Since emerging as a major figure in the 1980s, Pettibon has been the subject of numerous museum exhibitions and has represented the United States at the Venice Biennale. His work is held in the permanent collections of leading institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate, and the Centre Pompidou. Today, Raymond Pettibon is widely regarded as one of the most significant draftsmen of his generation, whose works on paper continue to shape contemporary art through their wit, literary depth, and penetrating examination of American life.
You're Showing, I'm Telling
Seattle Art Fair 2026
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