1275 Minnesota St /
Casemore Kirkeby
Raymond Saunders: 40 Years: Paris/Oakland
Casemore Kirkeby and Andrew Kreps Gallery are pleased to announce 40 Years: Paris/Oakland, a retrospective of works by Raymond Saunders.
Since the 1960s, Raymond Saunders has developed a singular practice defined by an improvisational approach, as he culls eclectic ephemera, signage, detritus, and other materials from his daily life which reflect his living environment. A cult-like figure in the Bay Area art scene, Saunders’ paintings and installation-based works are loaded with rich swaths of paint, interwoven with found materials and his own notational marks, and white-pencil drawings.
Blackboard surfaces, left visible through a heavy accumulation of marks and material, tie Saunders’ works inextricably to his role as an educator, as he handwrites simple equations, lettering, and childlike notes onto the work’s surface. Like jazz, dissonant at first, yet upon closer view, Saunders uses these diverse elements which seem to address the dualities present within life - plight and renewal, lack and abundance, innocence, and despair, as well as the individual and the community. Interweaving his own personal experience and anecdotes, Saunders aims to teach this full reality of the modern environment, the losses and victories, as well as the splendor that exists within the everyday.
Spanning four decades of Saunders’ remarkable career, 40 Years: Paris/Oakland spans two locations (657 Howard Street, and 1275 Minnesota Street) and features rarely-exhibited works on canvas from the 1980s and installation-based works from the 1990s. Focusing on his activities outside of the Bay Area, the exhibition highlights previously unexhibited works created in Saunders’ Paris studio from the 1990s and 2000s, where he would spend each summer. Developed in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition will additionally include recent works from Saunders’ Oakland studio.
40 Years: Paris/Oakland will open to the public on Saturday, May 1 at both of the exhibition's venues. Two limited-attendance receptions will be held with the artist in attendance: Saturday, May 1, at 657 Howard Street from noon to 5 PM, and Saturday, May 8, at 1275 Minnesota Street from noon to 5 PM. COVID-19 protocols, in accordance with the city of San Francisco's current guidelines, will be observed at both venues.