Raymond Pettibon. Plots laid Thick.

In the second half of the 20th century, aesthetics played a transcendental role in the process of convergence between Pop (low) culture and so-called ‘haute couture’ (high culture). The Punk movement of 1970s South Bay (Los Angeles) prompted a meeting between contemporary Art and the ‘underground’ musical culture of groups such as Sonic Youth and Black Flag. Raymond Pettibon was a key element that brought the two together. His work centers on integrating literary references to Proust, Henry James, William Blake, Ruskin, etc. in the narrative style of comics and popular vignettes. As a result, the drawing and writing of his ‘little stories’ constantly fluctuated between ‘artistic rhetoric’ and the everyday verbalization characteristic of American subculture. In 2002 the MACBA hosted the first Pettibon (Arizona, 1957) retrospective in Spain, exhibiting almost 1000 drawings. Through those drawings and a dissection of the WASP mentality, characters such as the hero, prostitute, junkie, athlete, cowboy, etc., paraded through the exhibit. The catalogue includes the scripts of the films: Sir Done, The Whole World Is Watching: Weatherman´69, and Batman.