Raymond Pettibon was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1957. Known for his comic-like drawings with disturbing, ironic or ambiguous captions, Pettibon's subject matter is sometimes violent andanti-authoritarian. 

From the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, he was closely associated with the punk rock band Black Flag and the record label SST Records, both founded by his older brother Greg Ginn. Pettibon’s artwork appeared on flyers and records for Black Flag through the early 1980s, and he became well known in the Los Angeles punk rock scene.

Beginning in the 1990s, he became a well-known figure in his own right in the contemporary art scene.
He works primarily in ink on paper and many of his drawings are monochromatic, although he sometimes introduces color through the use of crayon, pencil, or watercolor. In addition to his paper works, Pettibon has experimented with video art and has recently produced large art installations by arranging his paper works within a room in the context of larger drawings made on the walls of the gallery. Since then, Pettibon has been acclaimed in the international art scene, gaining notoriety after his participation in the controversial 1992 Helter Skelter exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and having his first major solo exhibition in 1995. His works are included in the permanent collections of public galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and a large collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His work has also been exhibited at the Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Witney Museum of American Art.  

In 2004 he was the recipient of a Bucksbaum Award, given every two years to an artist who has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial.