No Title (Boston Brave), 2017

In this second collaboration with Raymond Pettibon, THE SKATEROOM explores the artist’s baseball-themed works to release two limited editions of 250: No Title (The raised hands…), 2013, and No Title (Boston Brave), 2017. Through these visuals, viewers witness Pettibon's ability to narrow motion down to a single moment frozen in time. The present work depicts the baseball player, Warren Spahn, in the middle of throwing a left-handed pitch. The image illustrates Pettibon's fascination with the visual language of this archetypal American sport, which is a common theme in his work. As Raymond explains, "to draw someone with a wetsuit or a tight, double-knit baseball outfit doesn't lend itself to what I'm looking to describe. It's just one snapshot; I'm trying to depict something that is an action. If you draw a baseball player, for instance, with the old-time baggy flannels, you can depict the action better than you can with something that looks painted on to his body. […] But it's also meant to go back in time to when baseball had a more of a larger-than-life epic quality."