Photos by Nick Gazin
Raymond Pettibon and Marcel Dzama made a zine of their collaborative drawings. They also put on an art show to help promote this zine, and it's up at David Zwirner's Chelsea gallery until February 12. The show and zine are called Forgetting the Hand. I assume that the title is about trying to transmit the images from your mind to the paper without thinking about the drawing appendage.
To commemorate the zine's release and make money selling art, David Zwirner put up a show of the drawings Marcel and Rayms have made together. You could buy one of the 500 zines printed for $30 or buy the original pieces for much, much more. The little sticker on the back of the cellophane envelope lets me know that I have zine number 70 of 500.
Both Marcel Dzama and Raymond Pettibon are quiet men who tend to trail off when they speak. When I saw Marcel, I asked if he would sign my zine, but he declined. He didn't want to be stuck signing things for the rest of the opening. Marcel pointed out that he'd done a drawing based on one of my photos, and let me ask him a few questions though. Here's a little Q&A that I did with Marcel Dzama while people lingered nearby, eager to say hi to him.
VICE: How did you and Raymond start making these drawings together?
Marcel Dzama: We had dinner together and we were drawing on the napkins and the gallery approached us about doing a zine. Lucas who's the head of the book department suggested it.
Have you collaborated with many artists?
A few. Maurice Sendak, before he passed away.
That makes sense.
And Spike Jonze. Me and him draw all the time.
Spike Jonze draws?
Yeah, he draws in a Gonzales kind of look. You should ask him about it.
Are there favorite pieces of yours in here?
My favorite piece is my son's favorite piece, the one with Superman in it and there's a drawing of Ray and I in it based on a photo you took of us.
The drawing based on my photograph
I'm so honored.
Thanks for taking it.
How old is your son?
Three and half. I find myself drawing to entertain him a lot of times. There's one where he's in a sailor suit. I drew him in that one, and he was really excited. I encourage the superhero theme because he's really into those right now. He loves Superman because he's indestructible.
How long did it take to make the murals?
The murals didn't take very long. The smaller ones took longer. The freedom of the large pieces is an aspect and with this large pattern we used a projector. It took an hour while the small piece next to it took all day.
With this large mural of waves, who did what parts?
I did the Duchamp-style black lines and Ray turned it into waves. I drew the little surfer girl, and he drew the waves.
Raymond's concentric line wave patterns are so beautiful. Those are some of my favorite things he does.
In some of the drawings, we mimicked each other's style. Trying to draw in his style was fun.
How long have you been working on the pieces in the show?
Not too long, we originally did them for the zine. The larger ones we did in the last month. Some were just finished yesterday. All the larger ones we finished in one late night.
Do you wish you were able to keep any of the murals?
Definitely, especially the one of the bat.
Do you have a favorite piece in the show?
I haven't seen it yet. We were working on it the last couple days but I haven't made it around the room yet.
At this point Raymond's wife, artist Aida Ruilova popped in and asked Raymond, "Will you sign my boobies?" After which Raymond attempted to move through the gallery with a swirling crowd of fans, assistants, and collectors shuffling around him.
The show is good, go see it. The zine is good, go buy it.
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