Raymond Saunders

Pittsburgh-born collage artist & painter

“I don’t want to know who I am, because I paint to try and access that. And I still don’t know…”

The above is a quote from Pittsburgh-born collage artist and painter Raymond Saunders (b. 1934).

I just learned about Raymond Saunders this past weekend from a fellow artist friend of mine (@chris.norman.art) who brought him up in a conversation about my all-time favorite painter, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Apparently — and if you look at Saunders’ artwork, this is not stretch of the imagination — Saunders was a big influence on Basquiat.

These things are always subject to deeper investigation which is why (thank God) we have books, libraries, search engines, art departments, etc. It would be interesting to look at specific pieces of Saunders’ art and when they were made, and compare them to what Basquiat was doing at the same time.

Both artists seem to share a habit of working with historical and political themes, working on and with found object, and for being able to create art with that specific effect — the one I feel is really where its at when it comes to art — of something that looks haphazard but is actually very intentional. Saunders seems to rely a lot more on collage and do less work with figures than Basquiat did. Saunders also does not seem to use quite as much paint or clashing colors. But this is from a relatively small sample of Saunders’ work.

Whatever the case with this particular debate (who influenced who and how much, etc.), I can’t help but feel as though Saunders is a major revelation for me and my art. I feel that sense of being at the beginning of what will become a deep and intense journey into Saunders work, a journey that very well might change my own art and process.

I also just cannot believe I never heard of him before, especially since he’s originally from Pittsburgh. This is due, I am sure, to an effort on the part of Saunders to stay out of the limelight. From what I can gather, he has managed to build a lifelong career as an artist while avoiding many of the trappings of artistic success: namely excesses of fame & money, chemical indulgences, and an early death.

Below is a clip from a 90-minute interview with Saunders, from 1994:

I wish I had more to say right now, but as you can see I am at the very beginning stages of learning about this artist. Hope you enjoy at least this video and perhaps some of his artwork as well.