Ray Pettibon in Ewing, NJ

Raymond Pettibon. You don't need to be some goofy patron of the arts to appreciate that guy's work. You just need to be a normal, red-blooded Black Flag & SST Records fan. You know, the type of fellow who can recite all those radio commercials at the end of Everything Went Black, appreciate all the sour notes in a Ginn solo, and who will argue 'til last call that no, Rollins did not ruin Flag and yes, those later records do kick ass. And like Ginn & a litigious trigger-finger, Flag & the art of Pettibon will always go hand in hand. The bars, the little puppet on My War, the ill-fated cop in the Police Story illustration: this is the stuff that decorates the lockers & living rooms of creeps who pace around at midnight & struggle to discover a third way to blast a concept.

But this blog entry is no history lesson. There's an exhibit titled Raymond Pettibon: Early Drawings & it's hanging on three white walls at the College of New Jersey. It's got images of surfers, self-obsessed big-league hitters, locomotives, introspective tight-rope walkers, a few sexually-charged 60s teenagers, a drawing that can be a none other than little brother Greg (or the other sky-high guitarist, Dez), a Vavoom or two & a film from 2004 titled Repeater Pencil. Much of it looks brand-new to these eyes. Weirdos & misfits from up & down the East Coast are already clogging Route 31 and creepy-crawling the campus. As the saying goes, you guys would be fools to miss it.

Here are some photos, taken without the benefit of flash photography.

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useful info: http://tcnjartgallery.pages.tcnj.edu/2012/01/17/raymond-pettibon-early-drawings-5/