Point Break: Raymond Pettibon, Surfers and Waves

All this must be either surfed or painted: This is the underlying sentiment behind Raymond Pettibons iconic paintings of surfers and waves in this quintessential volume dedicated to the motif. Pettibon is known for his characteristically youthful aesthetic and sharply satirical critique of American culture. Though drenched in cynicism, his work empathizes with the dizzying madness of our own humanity as it engages both so-called high and low culture. Perhaps most poetic of the many motifs present in Pettibons oeuvre is the surfer. In 1985 Pettibon began Surfersa series he continues to work on to this daypopular for its depiction of the lone surfer silently carving a line of beauty, along an impossibly large wave. This publication traces a selection of one hundred surfers from the series, from smaller monochromatic works on paper to colorful large-scale paintings applied directly to the wall. For Pettibons protagonist in these workshis countercultural herosurfing exists apart from all else. Momentarily he achieves sublimity on the wave, distant yet synced with turbulent reality. We are forced to confront our own scale: small and feeble in the face of so much sublime power. Pettibons lyrical writings on these painted surfacesboth his own and taken from literaturereference his own philosophies and the confusions of realityhe critiques the hypocrisies and vanities of the world he engages. To help navigate, the renowned New Yorker writer and Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, William Finnegan, perfectly distills the transcendent nature and lack thereof in Pettibons work.