A Taste of Raymond Saunders

Exhibition Statement

The Schneider Museum of Art, at Southern Oregon University, opened the 2004 exhibition season with the work of distinguished Bay Area artist, Raymond Saunders, on Tuesday, January 6, 2004. Saunders is an outstanding artist who has gained international recognition for the power and vitality of his art, as well as for his sophisticated aesthetic vocabulary. Encouraged from an early age to pursue his artwork, Saunders excelled in his craft. He attended high school at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and received his BFA from there in 1960. One year later he graduated with an MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1961, where he became an Associate Professor of Art. Saunders began using black backgrounds for his work in the early 1980’s, finding that it grounded his work and provided a more dramatic impact to his use of colors and images. He continues to work on large black canvases incorporating bold colors, images and found objects with intricate and delicate drawings. Included with his paintings in the exhibition were a series of watercolors and drawings. Raymond Saunders mastery is clearly evident in this work and attests to the unique visual vocabulary he has perfected over the years.

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