RAYMOND PETTIBON / Like Death Valley

Raymond Pettibon
Like Death Valley  1985
Offset print of ink on paper, 28 pages
22 x 14cm, 1st edition
SST Pubs

#165 of 500. Approximately 400 copies from the edition were later destroyed. Hand-numbered by Raymond Pettibon in red ink on the front cover.

Condition: Very good. Mild toning consistent with age.

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Published by SST Publications in 1985, Like Death Valley is one of Raymond Pettibon's scarce early artist's books, produced during his formative years within the Southern California punk scene. Originally distributed through SST, the publication reflects the raw, self-published ethos that defined Pettibon's earliest work.

Like many of his zines from this period, Like Death Valley combines fragmented text with stark ink drawings to construct a restless portrait of America. Violence, desire, religion, popular culture and psychological unease collide across its pages, refusing coherent narrative in favour of abrupt shifts in tone and meaning. These early publications established the visual language that would come to define Pettibon's practice and remain among the most sought-after examples of artist publishing from the American punk underground.

This copy is hand-numbered 165/500 by Pettibon in red ink. With the majority of the edition destroyed, surviving copies are exceptionally scarce.