Raymond Grist

I was brought up in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City during the 1940's - 1960's.The creative and cultural energy of Harlem during my youth exercised a strong influence. At a young age I met numberous visual, theatrical and literary artists.
I started painting during my early teens to satisfy an intellectual curiosity giving rise to the question, "What is a painting?,"a question that continues to dominate my work.Inm the late 1950's I began to venture out epxploring the jazz clubs of Greenwich Village encountering many of the musicians playing there. Later I used these influences by incorporating the rhythms, colors, and structures of jazz into my work.
In 1961 I moved to Spiain. There I visited the Prado museum daily and made drawings copying from, and studying the masters.
From 1962 till 1964 I was obliged to serve two years in the US Army. After my discharge I set up my first professional studio in New York.
Since that time I have lived and worked as an artist, a painter, printmaker, photographer and videographer.

School of Visual Arts, Bob Blackburn Printmakers Workshop, Mohammad Khalil

1969 First Painters Weeks, International Symposium, Eisenstadt, Austria
1970 The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
1970 The Cinque Gallery, New York, NY
1984 The Studio Museum in Harlem
1992 Moira Fine Arts Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
1992 America House, Munich Germany
1994 The Studio Museum Harlem
2000 The Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY
2002 The Broome Street Gallery
2004 York College, New York, NY
2007 The Parish Gallery, Washington, DC
2011 Columbia University, New York, NY
2021 Cinque Gallery/The Art Students League, New York, NY