Review
"Perhaps no subject better captures the spirit of Mr. Pettibon’s drawings than that of surfers dwarfed by towering waves." -- Nancy Princenthal ― The New York Times
“This volume brings together a host of reflections on the smallness and feebleness of humans in the face of the grandiosity of mother nature—an element entirely beyond our realm of control.” ― Flaunt Magazine
"Pettibon’s surfers can muster a whirlwind of emotions within the viewer. They “express the terror and bliss of being alive,” said The Skateroom founder, Charles-Antoine Bodson, on a recent partnership with the artist." ― Hypebeast
"Pettibon’s bread is canvas and his ink spreads smooth, baby." ― Beach Grit
"For most certainly we have discovered the most aesthetically-pleasing book released this June.” ― Refreads
About the Author
Raymond Pettibon’s (b. 1957) influential oeuvre engages a wide spectrum of American iconography variously pulled from literature, art history, philosophy, religion, politics, sports, and alternative youth culture, among other sources. Intermixing image and text, his drawings engage the visual rhetorics of pop and commercial culture while incorporating language from mass media as well as classic texts by writers such as William Blake, Marcel Proust, John Ruskin, and Walt Whitman. Through his exploration of the visual and critical potential of drawing, Pettibon’s practice harkens back to the traditions of satire and social critique in the work of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists and caricaturists such as William Hogarth, Gustave Doré, and Honoré Daumier, while reinforcing the importance of the medium within contemporary art and culture today.
Former professional surfer Jamie Brisick is a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in The Surfer’s Journal, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Guardian.
Brian Lukacher is a professor of art history at Vassar College.
Undoubtedly one of the world’s most stylish surfers, Stephanie Gilmore entered the professional surfing scene in 2007, winning four of the eight events and claiming the WSL world title in her rookie year. She has dominated ever since, winning seven world titles so far. Stephanie spends her days away from the tour traveling the globe, exploring new waves, cities and beaches, photographing her adventures, and playing her many guitars. Stephanie led the World Surf League (WSL) to achieve gender pay equality, one of the first international sporting organizations to do so. She’s an advocate for ocean health and loves to spend time with the next generation of surfers at initiatives such as Rising Tides at WSL tour events. In July 2021, Stephanie represented Australia and surfing for its debut appearance in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Emily Erickson is a second-generation big-wave surfer from the North Shore of Oahu. Her father, Roger, is a renowned big-wave pioneer and former North Shore lifeguard. Emily has forged a reputation for riding a variety of equipment on a variety of waves. She’s best known, however, for riding beautiful, hand-crafted single fins. She has chased swells all over the world, but is notorious for surfing her home breaks of Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay. Emily helped create history in 2019 as one of the first-ever female invitees to the prestigious Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay. She is winner of the 2019 Nelscott Reef Pro, a three-time finalist in the Women’s Big Wave invitational at Peahi Jaws, and a three-time XXL Awards Women’s Performer of the Year nominee. Competition has never been her focus, though. Emily simply loves being in the ocean.
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“In recent years, Raymond has produced a flurry of surf paintings, most of them pitting a tiny surfer against a giant, spectacular wave. It’s impossible to not see the self-portrait: Raymond the artist, streaking across the pitching, heaving, throaty blue wall that is his hopes/dreams/ideas that ping around in his head. It’s also impossible to not see how he’s selected the perfect metaphor.” —Jamie Brisick
