One might think, after viewing the new Raymond Pettibon / Marcel Dzama show at David Zwirner, that the two men have known each other forever. Forgetting the Hand (open through February 20) features a series of drawings on which the men collaborated. In accordance with the title, the viewer easily forgets that two different hands made these marks. Despite the unique aesthetics of both men, they've mirrored each other's styles and worked together so seamlessly that it would be easy to think that just one artist created the entire group.
At one time, though, Dzama was just a young Pettibon fan, admiring the artist from afar and waiting for his own big break.
"He was the first contemporary artist that I probably knew of because of the bands I liked as a teenager, like Sonic Youth," says Dzama. "The first CD I ever bought was Goo [for which Pettibon designed the cover]."
Dzama also tells a story about how he may partially owe his own Zwirner representation to Pettibon. "I don't know if this is true or not," he says, "but when I had my first show in LA at Richard Heller Gallery, David Zwirner was buying Raymond Pettibon drawings from him and saw my work. He wouldn't have been there otherwise. Raymond really opened the door for drawing in contemporary art. I don't know if there would have been room for me before that."