In Los Angeles Raymond Pettibon is a cult figure for both rock fans and members of a related subculture who are interested in underground publishing. He become known to a wider audience through his record cover designs for hard core bands such as Black Flag and Sonic Youth's "Goo", 1990. For cartoon lovers he is known for books such as, "Wein, Weib und Gesang", 1985. Pettibon crosses all genre boundaries and also uses video. He is also one of the leading figures for those artists who work with images and text.

Pettibon's witty, often black and white cartoon like drawings pinned directly on the wall present a raw version of young people's suffering and desires. This is in sharp contrast to the expected sunny image of his home in Southern California. He often depicts catastrophe situations in both nature and culture with images of mushroom clouds, lightening flashes, explosions, fires and bombs which together with other favourite motives such as light bulbs, eye balls, bleeding hearts and baseball players illustrate the confusion we live in. In the hand written texts many voices are heard, including fragments from writers such as James Joyce, John Ruskin and Henry James; also the Bible and pulp fiction are mixed with everyday expressions.

"I stole my sister's boyfriend. It was all whirlwind heat and flash within a week we killed my parents and hit the road." (Cover of "Goo", 1990).