January 2019
Dior artistic director Kim Jones collaborated with Raymond Pettibon for the Dior Homme Fall/Winter 2019–2020 collection, which debuted in Paris on Friday, January 18.
New and existing works by Pettibon have been reinterpreted for the collection as prints, embroideries, knits, and jacquards. The centerpiece of the show is a beaded shirt featuring the artist’s drawing No Title (She must know). Made in 2010 and shown as part of his solo exhibition Hard in the Paint at David Zwirner New York that year, No Title (She must know) is an ink-and-gouache work on paper depicting a half-figure portrait of a young woman in a pose similar to da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
In Pettibon’s drawing, the winding paths and trees that make up the background of the Renaissance painting have been supplanted by handwritten messages or statements that describe the fabrication of pictorial meaning. From "The manifestation of womanhood" and "The making of madonna" to "The caricature of character" and "The idealization of idolatry," the words appear almost as satirical commentary on art historical language. Coupled with the solemn expression on the figure’s face, a sentence near the top of the work reads, "She must know that we are reading a fiction with her," signaling a departure from the enigmatic mood associated with the Mona Lisa.
Other works by Pettibon that inspired the designs include No Title (Take it from...) (2010), also presented in the exhibition Hard in the Paint, and a colored pencil-and-watercolor work on paper called No Title (I would be...) (2013). The latter is part of a body of work the artist created for his 2013 David Zwirner show To Wit, a title reflecting Pettibon’s preference for language that introduces the works without an antecedent—as an interrupted thought followed by something spontaneous: to wit, this body of work.
"I’ve loved Raymond Pettibon since I was a teenager," Jones said in an interview with Vogue on the collaboration, which debuted on January 19, 2019, in Paris. "His confidence of line is something that always really impressed me." Paper magazine opined that "The centerpiece of Jones’s collection was undoubtedly the collaboration with esteemed punk-era visual artist Raymond Pettibon."
David Zwirner is pleased to announce Raymond Pettibon: Noir, an upcoming Viewing Room of the artist’s drawings from the 1980s, many which have never been shown before. Film Noir will highlight a body of work that was made while Pettibon was living in Los Angeles, and will embrace the wide spectrum of high and low American culture. The Viewing Room will be curated by Andrea Cashman and will coincide with Frieze LA, launching publicly on February 8, 2019.
Cover image: The Dior Men Fall/Winter 2019–2020 collection, featuring an interpretation of Raymond Pettibon’s No title (She must know), 2010. Photo © Jason Lloyd-Evans