February 24 – April 25, 2026
Raymond Saunders: Notes from LA
David Zwirner
Opening Reception:
Tuesday, February 24, 6–8 PM
In Person Viewing:
616 N Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Online Viewing:
https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2026/raymond-saunders-notes-from-la
David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Raymond Saunders (1934–2025) at the gallery’s 616 N Western Avenue location in Los Angeles. Curated by Ebony L. Haynes, this is Saunders’s third solo exhibition with David Zwirner and will mark the first exhibition in Los Angeles devoted to the artist’s work in more than a decade.
David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Raymond Saunders (1934–2025) at the
gallery’s 616 N Western Avenue location in Los Angeles. Curated by Ebony L. Haynes, this will be
Saunders’s third solo exhibition with David Zwirner and will mark the first exhibition in Los Angeles
devoted to the artist’s work in more than a decade. This presentation coincides with the inclusion of
Saunders’s work in the group exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985, on
view at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, from February 24 to June 14, 2026.
Celebrating Saunders’s time in California—the artist lived and worked in Oakland for most of his adult
life—Notes from LA features a selection of paintings and works on paper that embody many of the
distinct material and conceptual concerns of the artist’s decades-long practice. Saunders had close ties
to the West Coast, where most of his studio years were spent. He also became well-known as an arts
educator there: having earned his MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, in 1961,
he began teaching at California State University, Hayward, in 1968 and went on to join the faculty of his
alma mater (later known as California College of the Arts), where he was given the distinction of
professor emeritus. For Saunders, teaching and artmaking were equal pursuits, and each in turn informed the other, resulting in the frequently didactic, shorthand mode of expression that is a hallmark
of his works.
