Raymond L. Haywood
May 13/14
Biography
Raymond L. Haywood Painter, Printmaker, and Sculptor working in his studio in Berkeley California.
Raymond received his BFA from the University of California at San Diego and his MFA from San Francisco State University. He has over a decade of teaching experience from high school to community college.
He is currently a full time Construction Technologies instructor at Freedom High School in Oakley CA. He is also a retired journeyman carpenter, knowledgable in residential and commerical construction for the past four decades.
Raymond has taught a wide variety of art related subjects: painting, printmaking, theater set design and construction, textile design and Art history at the College level.
Raymond is known for his abstract expressionist mixed-media paintings that often include paper collage, stencils and found text. His dynamic cowrie symboled paintings from 2020 explore the African Diaspora through variegated color and texture.
His 2022 exhibition at the Mercury twenty gallery in Oakland CA, “ENVy of Desire”, introduced his abstract expressionist sculptures. These thin constructions resemble totemic structures and speak succintly to his craftsmanship as a woodworker.
Raymond has also been consistently working on colorful and gestural abstract expressionist landscape paintings and has a large collection of moderate to large paintings available.
The use of vibrant color and layered surfaces brand Mr. Haywoods signature aesthetic style. Raymond is invested in “Action Painting” which manifests artwork that evokes both ethereal landscapes as well as moments in time archived in our physical bodies.
Artist Statement 2023
Abstraction and Action painting based on improvisation are the essential elements of my paintings. Weathered wooden surfaces and hard edged painting vs soft edged spraypaint are my signature style.
A native of Berkeley CA, the influences of land, sea and sky dominate my compositions.
Painting is the praxis that facilitates an entry point for gesture and content, creating a visual diary of travels and explorations
The scale of my work is as important as the intention and content. Paintings reflect a specific time, place and emotion that are stored in our physical memory.
Abstract Expressionism, Silk Screen printing and Sculpture are the genres that call to me.
RaymondLHaywood.com