Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Lion Dominating a Fool


So, this is an illustration by Raymond Pettibon. I personally love Pettibon's sketchy and mostly black and white style. Some of his work is very busy and chaotic while others, like this image on the left, are relatively clean and simple. Pettibon combines illustration and typically handwritten text to form a whole image. Most of his images often feature a comedic, sometimes dark, caption either explaining the illustration or making idol or witty jokes.
I particularly enjoy this image as one of his lighter works. I enjoy how clean and neat the image is with most attention being payed to composition. I find the lack of background beyond the suggestion of a few trees to be a strong approach that enhances the illustration and causes it to come forward towards the viewer. The simple caption at the top is nicely placed and effective to the design without being distracting.

1 comment:

  1. Good post. It makes me want just a little more text (I don't think it's quite 250 words).

    How about doing a little research and telling us where Mr. Pettibon's work can be found, or the history and context of it. His work straddles fine art, underground art, commercial art... give your fellow students some context. How did he get started? I think any of these questions can generate some interesting text.

    Also: Where did you find this piece, and why did you choose this particular one to post?

    (This is a question I can ask a lot of students about their posts: Please tell us why you chose a particular piece by the artist. Is the image typical or atypical of their work? Does it best encapsulate their work somehow, and why do you think so?)

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