The intricacies underlying American history are the driving force behind the American Short Stories exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in NoMi.
Raymond Pettibon and Saul Steinberg may cater to different audiences (the former commenting on the underbelly of society, while Steinberg deals with the urbane culture’s sentimentality), but their techniques are the same: utilizing graphic illustrations in a narrative from. Each piece is structured so that they are self-contained stories, always trying to get at the ephemeral theme of living in America.
Pettibon’s characters appear in a brutal reality, where Batman prays that the city is safe for a night, Gumby wishes he was high art, Jean Harlow turns into a werewolf on her wedding night, and George Washington wonders, “Why do I always get stuck with the old, ugly prostitutes?” There is no affection for his youth and the hippie sentimentality of the ’60s; he exposes their duplicity and naivet