Raymond Pettibon. Looker / Upper

Raymond Pettibon´s genius for devising unpredictable, amusing tensions between word and image reach into new terrain with his newest works, gathered in this staplebound volume for the artist´s 2011 show at Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin. Ranging from laconic single images to collaged drawing and works exploring a wilder cacophony of caption and image, these images, rendered in Indian inks, and reproduced in full color and in installation shots at the CFA, show Pettibon locating new heights and depths of wit and improbable association--as well as exploring more political content, with references to Obama and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Alongside these developments, familiar Pettibon imagery of sport, pulp and psychedelica also abounds. "Raymond Pettibon: Looker-Upper" provides a handsomely designed update on the artist´s dark yet rarely dystopian universe.