Early Raymond Pettibon Buyers Reap Millions as Artist's Value Soars
Individuals who purchased works from the celebrated artist for hundreds of dollars in the 1990s are now seeing their investments fetch millions at auction.
Raymond Pettibon, an artist whose career began in the Los Angeles punk scene, is now a blue-chip name, with his paintings commanding prices of up to $3.4 million at auction. Following a recent celebration of his work by Sotheby's in Beverly Hills, several notable individuals revealed they own Pettibon pieces acquired for mere hundreds of dollars in the 1990s.
Richard Rushfield, columnist for The Ankler, and screenwriters Nicole Coady and Halle Eaton are among those who acquired Pettibon's art early on. Pettibon gained recognition in the 1980s for his distinctive album covers and flyers for bands on SST Records, a label founded by his brother Greg Ginn, who was also the founder of the band Black Flag.
During the early 1990s, Rushfield, Coady, and Eaton were part of a circle of emerging industry professionals who frequented Dominick's, a popular West Hollywood bar. At the time, Pettibon was largely known within punk music circles. Mindy Daluiso, who was beginning her career as an art dealer, enlisted these friends to support her nascent business by purchasing Pettibon's paintings, which were priced between $300 and $400.
"Mindy asked all of us to buy [his] paintings to help her fledging business get off the ground," Rushfield recalled. "And they were $300, $400, which was all any of us could have afforded back then."
Eaton, who also purchased a piece, described Daluiso displaying a large collection of Pettibon's works. Rushfield, who had studied art history, bought an