An Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024
An Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills

On view at David Zwirner’s 519 and 525 West 19th Street galleries in Chelsea and Andrew Kreps’s gallery at 22 Cortlandt Alley in Tribeca, this expansive presentation—curated by Ebony L. Haynes—spans four decades of American artist Raymond Saunders’s work.


Including paintings and works on paper, many of which have never before been exhibited, this presentation offers visitors insight into Saunders’s singular and influential practice.



Image: Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024 

Dates
February 22April 6, 2024
Opening Reception
Thursday, February 22, 6–8 PM
Gallery Hours
Tues—Sat 10am–6pm
A photograph of Raymond Saunders, dated 1970s. Photo by Anthony Barboza

Raymond Saunders, 1970s. Photo by Anthony Barboza

Raymond Saunders, 1970s. Photo by Anthony Barboza

Post No Bills highlights Saunders's intentional and effective formal style that blends painting, drawing and collage, and focuses on his consistent observations and questioning around belonging and visibility, and the quieted dissent of a formidable painter.”

—Ebony L. Haynes

A mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Post No Bills, dated 1968.

Raymond Saunders

Post No Bills, 1968
Acrylic, collage, and mixed media on canvas
80 1/2 x 48 inches (204.5 x 121.9 cm)

This exhibition takes its title—Post No Bills—from a 1968 painting by Saunders. In appropriating signage deliberately designed to keep communal surfaces bare and re-presenting it in the white cube, Saunders questions the inbuilt structures that dictate inclusion and exclusion, both in the public sphere and the art institution.

On view across two of our 19th Street galleries, as well as Andrew Kreps’s Tribeca space, are a range of paintings and works on paper that embody this ethos, showcasing Saunders’s nuanced visual vocabulary that seamlessly traverses both high and low points of reference.

A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Post No Bills, dated 1968

Raymond Saunders, Post No Bills, 1968 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Post No Bills, 1968 (detail)

“As Saunders finds a way to remember a day from long ago, he reassembles the playground in a space that transcends memory. Drifting through the fragmentary landscape of visual culture the artist deconstructs as he observes, making the languages of the avant-garde and the nightclub alike into beautiful debris and broken headstones.”

—Andrew Paul Woolbright, editor-at-large, The Brooklyn Rail, 2022

A mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Dr Jesus, dated 1968.

Raymond Saunders

Dr Jesus, 1968
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
61 1/2 x 55 inches (156.2 x 139.7 cm)

Born in 1934 in Pittsburgh and now in his eighties, Saunders first studied art in the city’s public schools, participating in a program for artistically gifted students. Much of the artist’s early work from the 1960s is marked by his signature black ground, which evolved to carry sociopolitical implications when the artist published his critical essay "Black is a Color" in 1967 as a rebuttal to an article by the writer Ishmael Reed about the Black Arts Movement.

In this text, Saunders argues powerfully that Reed’s essay failed to capture the vastness of Black expression and in doing so siloed Black artists and their work as delimited by the category of race alone. He concluded with the imperative that we necessarily separate identity from artistic output, that “we get clear of these degrading limitations, and recognize the wider reality of art, where color is the means, not the end.”

A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Walls I Have Known II, dated 1983.

Raymond Saunders

Walls I Have Known II, 1983
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas in two (2) parts
Overall: 81 1/4 x 101 3/8 inches (206.4 x 257.5 cm)
Part 1: 81 x 48 3/8 inches (205.7 x 122.9 cm)
Part 2: 81 1/4 x 53 inches (206.4 x 134.6 cm)

“I’m not here to play to the gallery. I am not responsible for anyone’s entertainment. I am responsible for being as fully myself, as man and artist, as I possibly can be, while allowing myself to hope that in the effort some light, some love, some beauty may be shed upon the world, and perhaps some inequities put right.”

—Raymond Saunders, “Black Is a Color,” 1967

A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Walls I Have Known II, date TBC

Raymond Saunders, Walls I Have Known II, 1983 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Walls I Have Known II, 1983 (detail)

In the 1970s Saunders’s work gained recognition in museums across the United States and Europe, including a solo exhibition the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and notable group exhibitions such as Contemporary Black Artists in America at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and 5 Painters at the American Academy in Rome.

A photograph from Contemporary Black Artists in America, Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York, dated 1971

Installation view, Contemporary Black Artists in America, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1971

Installation view, Contemporary Black Artists in America, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1971

An Installation view of the 1972 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, dated January 25–March 19, 1972). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements

Installation view, Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1972. Photo by Geoffrey Clements

Installation view, Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1972. Photo by Geoffrey Clements

Additionally, during this decade he participated in the 1972 Whitney Biennial and was awarded prestigious awards like a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Award.

A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled I Don't Go To Church Anymore, dated 1975.

Raymond Saunders

I Don't Go To Church Anymore, 1975
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
85 7/8 x 83 5/8 inches (218.1 x 212.4 cm)

“Because Saunders prefers assimilating information through non-verbal means, he will sometimes avoid conversation to retain the clarity and force of his own visual perceptions. Language, in his opinion, tends to limit imagination and perceptual possibilities. He has confidence in his own intuition and hopes that his art is viewed in a sim­ilarly intuitive way.”

—Joy Feinberg in her 1976 catalogue essay for Raymond Saunders: Recent Work, University Art Museum, Berkeley

An Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

A mixed media Raymond Saunders, titled Passing By and Always Curious, dated 1986.

Raymond Saunders

Passing By and Always Curious, 1986
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
72 x 48 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm)

By the 1980s Saunders’s signature style had developed into assemblage-style paintings. Often beginning with monochromatic black grounds that the artist elaborated with white chalk—both a pointed reversal of the traditional figure-ground relationship and a nod to Saunders’s decades spent as a teacher—he would subsequently add a range of other markings, materials, and talismans.

A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Passing By and Always Curious, dated 1986

Raymond Saunders, Passing By and Always Curious, 1986 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Passing By and Always Curious, 1986 (detail)

A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Passing By and Always Curious, dated 1986

Raymond Saunders, Passing By and Always Curious, 1986 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Passing By and Always Curious, 1986 (detail)

“What it seems to be about for Raymond is connection and synthesis, conjured up from a storehouse of memories, triggered by a look or sound, conjoined within the context of the present. The point is active participa­tion and the message is that if you don't work at it, you probably won't get it.… Raymond Saunders' art and vitality gives us a key, and it be­comes our responsibility to unlock the doors.”

—Margery Aronson in her 1981 catalogue essay for Raymond Saunders, East Carolina University

An artwork by Robert Rauschenberg, titled Collection, dated 1954/1955. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Robert Rauschenberg, Collection, 1954/1955. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Robert Rauschenberg, Collection, 1954/1955. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

An artwork by Jasper Johns, titled Alphabet, dated  1959. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

Jasper Johns, Alphabet, 1959. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

Jasper Johns, Alphabet, 1959. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

This artistic approach recalled the work of other artists of his generation—from the combines of Robert Rauschenberg to the use of stencils employed by Jasper Johns.

A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Paris and Bahia, dated 1989.

Raymond Saunders

Paris and Bahia, 1989
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
84 1/8 x 59 1/2 inches (213.7 x 151.1 cm)

The 1980s saw continued institutional success for Saunders, as he won the National Endowment for the Arts Award for a second time and participated in the groundbreaking group exhibition The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s at the New Museum in New York.

An Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Celeste Aged 5 Invited Me to Tea (1986) on view in The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s, New Museum of Art, New York

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Celeste Aged 5 Invited Me to Tea (1986), on view in The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s, New Museum of Art, New York, 1990

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Celeste Aged 5 Invited Me to Tea (1986), on view in The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s, New Museum of Art, New York, 1990

An untitled mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, Date not confirmed.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1998
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel
72 x 48 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm)

“Saunders' [experiences] nourish his art the way fresh soil can enrich a garden. The gardener and Saunders both work new material in with the old, then adjust and balance the mix until the composition is just right. A garden in bloom is a celebration of nature. A Saunders work is a celebration of life.”

—W. H. Bailey, curator of Raymond Saunders: Recent Work, Hunter College, New York, 1998

An Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

A mixed media by Raymond Saunders, titled Things Were Never $1.50, dated 1995.

Raymond Saunders

Things Were Never $1.50, 1995
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel and acrylic and mixed media on door
Overall: 96 x 83 x 1 7/8 inches (243.8 x 210.8 x 4.8 cm)

Throughout the 1990s Saunders’s style continued to mature. In works from this decade, expressionistic swaths of paint, minimalist motifs, line drawings, and passages of vibrant color tangle with found objects, signs, and doors collected from his urban environment, creating unexpected visual rhymes and resonances that reward careful and sustained looking.

A painting by Raymond Saunders, called Title to be confirmed, dated 1995.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1995
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on doors in five (5) parts
Overall: 79 1/2 x 142 1/2 x 4 inches (201.9 x 362 x 10.2 cm)
A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders, called Title to be confirmed, dated 1995 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Untitled, 1995 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Untitled, 1995 (detail)

A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders, called Title to be confirmed, dated 1995 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Untitled, 1995 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Untitled, 1995 (detail)

“We look at his pictures and (suddenly or slowly) begin to imagine our own humanity—a kind of trembling tenderness touched with menace, exhilaration, relief, and the outrageous bounty at our disposal. From an environment of the lost, the discarded, Saunders creates another wholly inscribed world of found things in which chalk and metal and paint and wallpaper and toys and insignia combine to destabilize and sooth us—then to change us altogether like a tropical medicine belt. Glorious.”

—Toni Morrison in her 1993 introduction for a solo exhibition of Saunders’s work

An untitled painting by Raymond Saunders, dated 1999.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1999
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel
53 x 48 inches (134.6 x 121.9 cm)
A detail of an artwork by Raymond Saunders called Untitled, dated 1999

Raymond Saunders, Untitled, 1999 (detail)

Raymond Saunders, Untitled, 1999 (detail)

Now in his nineties, Saunders continues to be the focus of solo exhibitions globally. Among his more recent presentations are Raymond Saunders: On Freedom and Trust at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and Raymond Saunders: This Is For You at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art.

A photograph from Raymon Saunders: On Freedom and Trust, SVMA

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: On Freedom and Trust, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, California, 2022–2023. Photo by Grace Cheung-Schulman

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: On Freedom and Trust, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, California, 2022–2023. Photo by Grace Cheung-Schulman

A photography from Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Title unknown (1960–65), on view in Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2022–2023. Photo by Emile Askey

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Title unknown (1960–65), on view in Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2022–2023. Photo by Emile Askey

An Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Jack Johnson (1971), on view in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, dated 2017. A Photo by Seraphina Neville

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Jack Johnson (1971), on view in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, 2017. Photo by Seraphina Neville

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s Jack Johnson (1971), on view in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, 2017. Photo by Seraphina Neville

A photograph from Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, dated 1960–1980

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s American Dream (1968), on view in Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980, Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 2011–2012

Installation view, Raymond Saunders’s American Dream (1968), on view in Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980, Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 2011–2012

His work has continued to appear in notable group exhibitions over the last two decades, including Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980 at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, which debuted at Tate Modern, London, and Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Pittsburgh '07-11, dated 2007.

Raymond Saunders

Pittsburgh '07-11, 2007
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)

The exhibition also features a selection of works from the early 2000s. At once deliberately constructed and improvisatory, didactic and deeply felt, Saunders’s richly built surfaces conjure the fullness of life, and its complications, allowing for a vast and nuanced multiplicity of meanings.

An untitled mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, dated 2012.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 2012
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel
48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
An Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

“Very much in the spirit of the music of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, Saunders's art celebrates improvisation and transience. Sights and sounds pass by as one moves along a city street, encountering the world, making decisions, and changing one's mind as one goes. Such is the beauty of Saunders's paint­ings. They are about life and all of its battles and victories, dirtiness and splendor.”

—Connie H. Choi in her 2011 catalogue essay for Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

A photograph of Raymond Saunders, dated 1996. Copyright Jock McDonald, dated 1996

Raymond Saunders, 1996. © Jock McDonald, 1996

Raymond Saunders, 1996. © Jock McDonald, 1996

Inquire About Works by Raymond Saunders

An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at Krepes in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at Krepes in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at Krepes in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition,  Raymond Saunders: Post No Bills, at Krepes in New York, dated 2024.
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Walls I Have Known II, dated 1983.

Raymond Saunders

Walls I Have Known II, 1983
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas in two (2) parts
Overall: 81 1/4 x 101 3/8 inches (206.4 x 257.5 cm)
Part 1: 81 x 48 3/8 inches (205.7 x 122.9 cm)
Part 2: 81 1/4 x 53 inches (206.4 x 134.6 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled Dr Jesus, dated 1968.

Raymond Saunders

Dr Jesus, 1968
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
61 1/2 x 55 inches (156.2 x 139.7 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Passages: East, West 1, dated 1987.

Raymond Saunders

Passages: East, West 1, 1987
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
82 x 75 7/8 inches (208.3 x 192.7 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Places Near and Far, dated 1986.

Raymond Saunders

Places Near and Far, 1986
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
80 x 61 1/2 inches (203.2 x 154.9 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Flowers from a Black Garden no. 51, dated 1993.

Raymond Saunders

Flowers from a Black Garden no. 51, 1993
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
70 1/2 x 72 3/4 inches (179.1 x 184.8 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled They’re Not All Like That, dated 1995.

Raymond Saunders

They’re Not All Like That, 1995
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on door
78 x 29 1/2 inches (198.1 x 74.9 cm)
An untitled mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, Date not confirmed.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1998
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel
72 x 48 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm)
A mixed media by Raymond Saunders, titled Things Were Never $1.50, dated 1995.

Raymond Saunders

Things Were Never $1.50, 1995
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel and acrylic and mixed media on door
Overall: 96 x 83 x 1 7/8 inches (243.8 x 210.8 x 4.8 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled El Telegrafo, dated 1986.

Raymond Saunders

El Telegrafo, 1986
Acrylic, chalk, crayon, collage, and mixed media on canvas
52 x 26 inches (132.1 x 66 cm)
A mixed media Raymond Saunders, titled Passing By and Always Curious, dated 1986.

Raymond Saunders

Passing By and Always Curious, 1986
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
72 x 48 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Pittsburgh, dated 2007.

Raymond Saunders

Pittsburgh, 2007
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, crayon, graphite, collage, and mixed media on wood panel
96 x 48 inches (243.8 x 121.9 cm)
An untitled painting by Raymond Saunders, dated 1999.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1999
Acrylic, chalk, collage, and mixed media on wood panel
53 x 48 inches (134.6 x 121.9 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Raymond Saunders, titled The Writing of My Seeing, dated 1986.

Raymond Saunders

The Writing of My Seeing, 1986
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
81 3/4 x 83 1/4 inches (207.7 x 211.5 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Forgetting The Name of That Which You See, dated 1986.

Raymond Saunders

Forgetting The Name of That Which You See, 1986
Paint, mixed media, and collage on canvas
80 1/2 x 60 1/4 inches (204.5 x 153 cm)
A mixed media by Raymond Saunders, called Untitled, dated 1996.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1996
Paint and mixed media on canvas
96 5/8 x 52 1/8 inches (245.4 x 132.4 cm)
A painting by Raymond Saunders, titled Pittsburgh '07-11, dated 2007.

Raymond Saunders

Pittsburgh '07-11, 2007
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
An untitled painting by Raymond Saunders, dated 1995.

Raymond Saunders

Untitled, 1995
Acrylic, spray paint, chalk, collage, and mixed media on canvas
23 1/4 x 20 5/8 inches (59.1 x 52.4 cm)

    Read More Read Less

      Read More Read Less