Raymond Saunders: Notes from LA

Raymond Saunders, Untitled (Apartheid), 1989. Acrylic, chalk, spray paint, graphite, and collage on canvas.

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 thegallery’s 616 N Western Avenue location in Los Angeles. Curated by Ebony L. Haynes, this will beSaunders’s third solo exhibition with David Zwirner and will mark the first exhibition in Los Angelesdevoted to the artist’s work in more than a decade. This presentation coincides with the inclusion ofSaunders’s work in the group exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985, onview 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 adultlife—Notes from LA features a selection of paintings and works on paper that embody many of thedistinct material and conceptual concerns of the artist’s decades-long practice. Saunders had close tiesto the West Coast, where most of his studio years were spent. He also became well-known as an artseducator 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 hisalma mater (later known as California College of the Arts), where he was given the distinction ofprofessor 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 hallmarkof his works.