Ray

In the house

Ray is over for dinner with newlywed Monica - they are visiting Paris and hop across the Channel for a few days of London, staying in the cool part of town - Shoreditch - taking it all in.

Originally from Louisiana and now Berkeley longtime, Ray is busy making and selling art, teaching silkscreen printing as an ongoing faculty member at the Richmond Art Center and a seminal member of The Art of Living Black, the Bay Area’s longest running annual African American exhibition of its kind. His studio in West Oakland at American Street Studie where his interests includes Graffiti Art, Urban Art, abstract paintings, silkscreen prints and drawings.

"Painting is layers of time, media, gesture and color that allow for declarative expressions of documentation. The act of painting is like breathing; one never stops but is often unconscious of these subliminal acts. My finished paintings are products of balance, color, texture and gesture. The necessity to paint resonates within me and the painting informs me when it is complete."

--Ray Haywood

Madeleine: "He's pretty cool, isn't he?"

Me: "Yep."