The Enemy of Average! Wild Surfwear- USA Made

By Christian Franzen

This last week I visited the visiting exhibit "The Seductive Line: Eroticism in Early Twentieth-Century Germany and Austria" on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibit presents over fifty work on paper from several notable German and Austrian artists. The works exhibited range from circa 1910 through circa 1938; therefore displaying drawing from several different movements including German Expressionism, Jugendstil, New Objectivity, and the Vienna Secession.

This exhibit highlights the new ideas surrounding the possibility of the figure, as well as its new found sexuality in the early 20th century and its capabilities to induce lust, shame, anxiety, and disgust. While at the same time attempting to capture the essence of the figure in new a revolutionary way. Women are by far the main subject matter throughout the series of drawing. The new ways in which these artist were observing and drawing the female form over exaggerates the raw sexuality of the female nude to the point of smoldering.

Aside from that, there is an indescribable beauty in the inquisitive line shared by this collection of artists. Each artist has a distinct style that is their own; however, they all posses this powerful wandering line that dances throughout the page. In the exhibit there are several works by Egon Schiele that were beyond beautiful. There is also an amazing portrait of a woman done by Gustav Klimt that rattled my brain. It's a really great show and it's up until July 10th. I would highly recommend that you see it if you have some free time.

By Christian Franzen

Raymond Ginn was born on June 16th, 1957 in Tucson, Arizona. Ginn was born in Arizona but raised in Hermosa Beach, California where he live with his 4 other siblings, mother, and father. After high school, Ginn attended UCLA and graduated with a degree in economics. For a short time after college he worked as a math teacher in the Los Angeles County School District. He then decided to go back to school at UCLA in order to get his BFA and completed it in 1977.

Later that same year his brother Greg Ginn founded the iconic punk rock band now known as Black Flag, also during this time Raymond changed his last name to Pettibon. In the beginnings of the band they went under the name Panic, Pettibon originally played base. However, it was soon discovered that there was an already existing band that went by the name Panic so Pettibon suggested the new name of Black Flag and designed the iconic four bars logo. The new band and logo were a hit and Pettibon's artwork began to be displayed on flyers, album covers, and merchandise. As a result he became very famous in the Southern California Punk Rock Scene.

Besides working on his own body of work he also created popular album cover for Sonic Youth's album Goo and many other album covers for bands such as Minutemen, Off!, Foo Fighters, Saccharine Trust, and many more. Pettibon works primarily in india ink on paper; sometimes he additionally uses colored pencil and or watercolor to add coloring. Pettibon finds influence in the works of William Blake, Goya, and political cartoons. Throughout the 1980's and 90's participated in many group exhibitions through out the United States and Europe and 1995 he had his first solo show at David Zwirner Gallery. More recently in 2006, Pettibon had a huge survey exhibition at the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga in Spain and in 2014 he sold his house in Venice Beach for $1.219 million.