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May 20, 2013 9:51 PM   Subscribe

 
Watered down Pettibon?
posted by snaparapans at 9:56 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


i like the crust punk one
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:52 PM on May 20, 2013


Very Pettibon.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:04 PM on May 20, 2013


I like the cut of this guy's jib.
posted by steganographia at 11:26 PM on May 20, 2013


I want to be Crust Punk's friend.
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:50 PM on May 20, 2013


I realized the other day that there was going to be a hipster Pettibon sooner or later.
posted by gcbv at 12:02 AM on May 21, 2013


A lot of these are pretty great. Like this one sort of captures how you feel whenever someone gives you their subjective and disjointed advice about how they figured life out for themselves which forces you into this weird skeptical balancing act between being an asshole and being bored. The absurdity just takes all the weight off the 'asshole' end and I guess the message is that it's okay to ignore it because you'll find the whole ordeal retrospectively hilarious. I think this one does the same thing though with a far more popular argument. It's all pretty great comfort to dumb twentysomeones like me.
posted by dubusadus at 12:03 AM on May 21, 2013


The ol' spicy keychain! There was a month last year when I couldn't stop accusing my wife of giving me the ol' spicy keychain. The dirty rat.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:36 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Pettibon's investigating the subjects of other people's stories -- characters from old exploitation movies, from supermarket tabloids before TV took over their job of seeking the shock and tittilation in the foibles of private people. Laren is living among the people he's drawing; all a little overweight and sweaty, stuck in the rust belt or the midwest, and Laren's cracking open the narratives that go on inside their heads that maybe they want to share with the world if only they could put words to it and somebody had asked them at the time.

Pettibon's association with LA punk gave scenester cred to his work. He was the go-to artist for albums and band flyers and his popularity peaked some time before Laren was born. Laren's working on his own and runs a Tumblr blog and is living in suburban Ohio. Seriously, calling Laren a hipster Pettibon is, man, I dunno... like calling Harvey Pekar a hipster version of Jack Kerouac. If the only similarity between Pettibon and Laren is that there seems to be some words on the paper over the drawings that might be coming from the subjects' heads, that's not really enough of a hook to hang the association on.

If I'm going to compare him to some random other artist, I'd go with Linda Barry, who's not only working in a similar loose, loopy style, but her best best work is also frequently about those moments of introspection or relationship among people who aren't usually given to such things.

(i'll have an ol' spicy keychain with a side of beans, please.)

posted by ardgedee at 4:23 AM on May 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


I was just thinking "reminds me of a guy version of Lynda Barry". Some of these are pretty good.
posted by PuppyCat at 6:36 AM on May 21, 2013


These are great. Hi5/
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:35 AM on May 21, 2013


his popularity peaked some time before Laren was born.

Pettibon's fan base has grown exponentially since the time you are pointing to, that is unless, by popularity, you mean popular with a demographic of a tiny slice of 16-23 year olds. These days, his audience is quite large, and that is not new (PDF bio). IMO, his fame has not come close to peaking, and may never stop growing. And, while his work does draw from sources from the 30's, 40's, 50's etc.. his work also reflects on the world around him.

You probably have not followed Pettibon for a long time, which is fair, as I have not followed Laren save for your link.
posted by snaparapans at 8:45 AM on May 21, 2013


laren seems way less nasty/heideckerish/exploitative than he could

prognosis: good
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 6:27 AM on May 22, 2013


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