RAYMOND SAÁ

Everything I do in the studio builds on what I’ve previously created; the paintings are informed by the works on paper, and the wall sculptures are informed by the paintings. They build on the process of making the work.

There are many things that inspire the work; obviously music, particularly traditional Cuban music. Recently, I have been looking at a lot of fashion that is experiencing positive change in diversity and inclusiveness which of course makes it much more interesting. There are the obvious connections; making art and clothing with a sewing machine, but I’ve really been enjoying the way patterning and color, interact with one another, and forms and shapes lie on top of one another. I’m also enjoying the idea of celebration and theater, a concept closely aligned with the persona of clothing and fashion.

The other re-occurring inspiration continues to be botanical themes. I allow myself to draw and create shapes that are taken from actual plants in the studio or that are fictional. I enjoy the layering and depth that plants create and the vine-like ‘growth’ that I imitate in my process.

There is a conscious effort to bring texture into the new paintings. I wanted to manipulate the canvas making it more tactile; each canvas shape works like it is its own object, stacking and layering color, building the form and composition. It is pleasing to bring materials together, I don’t like disguising materials or tricking the viewer, I like paper to be paper, and canvas to be canvas. The stitches serve the function of holding everything together and I enjoy the continuity of the smaller components coming together to make the larger form.

RAYMOND SAÁ received his BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and his MFA at the Parsons School of Design. He has exhibited at Untitled Art Miami Beach ‘21; White Columns, New York, NY; Queens Museum, Bulova Center, Queens, NY; Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ; Chautauqua Visual Arts Gallery, Chautauqua, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, CA; Islip Museum, Islip, NY; Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ; and more. His work is in the permanent museum and institutional collections: Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL; New Orleans Museum of Art, LA; Queens Museum of Art, NY; NYC Public Art in Public Schools, NY; US Department of State, Art in Embassies, Matamoros and Tiawana American Embassies, Mexico, as well as in numerous corporate and private collections. 

In 2023, the Philadelphia Museum of Art commissioned Raymond Saá along with four other artists to create artwork inspired by the exhibition Matisse in the 1930’s. In conjunction with Mural Arts Philadelphia, Saá’s work was reproduced as a public mural at 321 South Street, Philadelphia, PA. A video series documenting all five artists’ creative processes was published on the museum’s social media and website.

Saá’s awards and residencies include Joan Mitchell Center Artist in Residence Program, New Orleans, LA; Pollack Krasner Foundation, New York, NY;  Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, NY Public Art for Public Schools PS 357X, New York, NY.