I'm no art snob but if there was one contemporary artist that just reeked the Los Angeles I know, it would be Raymond Pettibon. From punk rock to surfing, to Mickey Spilane, William Blake and Gumby, these are a mere speck of themes explored.
Most may recognize his work from the many Lp's he's done for brother Greg Ginn's SST label and band(Black Flag), but do a little digging and you won't be let down. In fact start here for a great article from the NY Times. My snippets of text don't do him justice.
Another of the more 'commercial' viewings of his work can be found in the book "Beautiful Losers" made about the group art installation of the same name in 2006.
Pettibon on Gumby:Via ART:21:
"Gumby? To put it in general terms, you’ll see in my work this tendency to take on some very ridiculous subject. Possibly you can look at it as being so far out there as to be kind of just a stray thought. Going back to the heroic figures, you can speak about a wider area of things that happen that puts the responsibility on the shoulders of something like Gumby. It’s not done in any sarcastic way. It’s not even meant to call attention to itself. All I’m really asking is for you to look at that with the same kind of respect that you would if it was some important historical figure or Greek statue. Or the usual subject matters that artists tend to use.
There’s also a reason why Gumby in particular works for me so well. Because it does relate to the way I make work, which has very much to do with words and reading in particular. Gumby is a kind of metaphor for how I work. He actually goes into the book, goes into a biography or historical book, and interacts with real figures from the past and he becomes part of it. He brings it to another direction. And I tend to do that in my work. That’s why Gumby is a particularly important figure to me. I have to give credit to the figure of Gumby himself because it’s not something that I’m raising up by his bootstraps and putting in this high-art realm. Gumby’s creator, Art Clokey, was a pretty brilliant guy, and it wasn’t like the original Gumby cartoons weren’t worth paying attention to and that I’m rescuing him from Saturday morning children’s cartoons."
