The Burning Brothel

"The art preceded punk. I don’t know if it’s really possible to trace back and see if there’s a progression, a timeline, in any coherent sense, to my style. I wanted to retain the writing and representation, the figurative imagery, the people and places from that time, and to do that within my own means and talents and capabilities. That lead me into an illustrative-comic style, which I think is useful for what I do. And I retain that to this day. But my drawing also came out of editorial-style cartoons I was doing at the time. Music was one thing and art was another, and there weren’t really any standards for my art. If you look at old punk album covers they were mainly Russian constructivist or Heartsfield collages. There was no defined punk look or style. Not in art at least. Maybe in fashion. My work was just drawings, and basically drawings just as I would do now. They weren’t done with any aspirations of becoming a part of that scene. They weren’t about punk. They were just collections of drawings, some of which I xeroxed and sold. But you couldn’t even say they were sold in the punk scene. That would be a tough audience to crack. I would sell them to anyone I could. But it was never my goal to capitalize on punk. I could never make it as a commercial artist. I didn’t back then and I still don’t have the temperament and don’t care for drawing or painting or making art for any other purposes other my own. I’d rather do anything than make commercial art. I didn’t go to school for art. Making art has certain advantages for me but they would never be in that direction." -Raymond Pettibon