Raymond Pettibon a pen of all work the new museum

I had a really good time the other day at this jam packed over the top drawing show by Mr. Pettibon now on through April at the ill conceived uncomfortable New Museum. Filling the awkward spaces on three floors Pettibon's free wheeling and beautiful drawings cover all themes and topics including many scathing political drawings. There are also pop tart images of tarts and pops, noirish grisly images, some great stuff taking down religion and stuffy art and comic book inspired drawings and jots. There are like 800 pieces some in frames some just hung on the walls with tacks and lots of good stuff laying in those vitrines that museums love to use. The drawings are loose and beautifully done mainly in black dense inks with some color added here and there, but there are also blooming full color drawings large in scale like his surfing drawings that are Cinemascope in scale and are terrific in all their wavy blueness. There are drawings of war and soft core porn with penises galore along with drawings of famous and infamous personalities including many of presidents that can easily fit in either catagory. Murderers and movie stars all get the same treatment along with athletes and body builders. Many of the drawings have written texts and writings all over them and its not easy to stand there and read them but you can take a glance or two at the words and see if they fit your mood. The real pleasure here is the art, big and small loose and tight comical and scary, punk and underground and all by the way are wonderful. See this one. Now.