​BIO

 

Raylene Gorum is a Bay Area based artist who works primarily with intricately cut vinyl, acrylic, mirrors and wood to create installations and flat work that blur spatial boundaries through the use of reflective and transparent materials. Her pieces often uses buildings as canvas to make the world a little more fantastical.

She has a Bachelors of Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and through the Ecole d'Architecture in Paris. Her works have been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, London, Milan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, and Brazil and included in lots for the Whitney Art Party and Phillips du Pury. Her largest installation to date occupied 165' x 16' of window across the street from MOMA NY on 53rd Street. Her next largest work will occupy a 5,500 sf concrete pier in a park being built in the Bayview area of San Francisco with SFAC and SF Recs + Park.

She relocated to California and bought a houseboat in Sausalito after selling a popular singing bar, Baby Grand, that she designed and operated in NYC. She is the Parks + Rec Chair and on the board of Sausalito Center for the Arts as well as the Sausalito Community Boating Center. She sees opportunities for collaboration in art, song and every day life.

 

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ARTIST STATEMENT

 

Each project starts with a deep dive into the particular history and function of the site and a search for the hidden wow factors available in the space.I draw inspiration from the unifying communicative powers of science, cartography, mathematical geometry and the ethos of each project. The building itself frequently becomes a part of the work. I aim to make a space feel invigorated by art through the use of color, reflections, and movement. I want the casual or hurried visitor to feel lifted as they come into contact with my work and the engaged visitor to have something intriguing behind the art to sink their teeth into.

 

I frequently appropriate geometric patterns and use them as an alphabet to express other natural phenomena. Interlocking tessellations are transformed to convey oceanic wind data and land topography or to suggest blossoming trees in treeless neighborhoods.  As a painter mixes pigment and applies it to canvas, I distort data-enriched patterns and explore ways to layer them vibrantly over our everyday world.

• Trained as an architect at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Ecole d’Architecture in Paris
• Relocated to the Bay Area from NYC after many years away from her native soil.   
• Currently focusing on large scale installations + reflective prints.  The largest installation to date occupied 165' x 16' of windows across the street from MOMA NY on 53rd St. 

• Sketchbooks and tapings exhibited in New York, San Francisco, London, Milan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, and Brazil
• Nearly fainted when she found Rubans de Normandie, a tape store in Paris.

* Proud owner of a vinyl cutter named Eva.

 

CV

 

EXHIBITIONS

2023 “CITY FISH” exhibition at Hi-Note East Village NY, NY
       “Tam Unity Mural” Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley, CA
        WIP Northshore Performing Arts Center, Inglemoor, WA Commissioned by ArtsWA

         "Duality of Light" metal commission WIP, Las Vegas, NV
2022  Pirkle Jones Fund Grant Award Winner through the Marin Community Foundation
         “Resilience” Group show at Upstart Modern Gallery, Sausalito, CA
         “All Our Children United” 215’ unity tunnel project with CalTrans, Sausalito/Marin City, CA

2021  Metal Art Gate commissioned by Sausalito Community Boating Center “Rainbow Vortex”   

          Installation at Terra Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2020 “Anticipare” Strauss Performing Arts Center, UNO, Nebraska Art Council

         SFAC India Basin Park/ "Lady Bayview" 5,500 sf concrete art work for new pier/park

2019 “Intervallum” commissioned for University of Nebraska Omaha Performing Art Center
2018  Artist in Residence with Building 180 at Agapolis. Portola Valley, CA
        Solo exhibition at SWA Sausalito, CA
        “Possiblity Dragon” commissioned for the Mayor of Oakland in conjunction with Lowney

         Architects at their HQ in downtown Oakland

2017 "Star Sailor" Public Art mural for Onizuka Crossing, Mid-Pen Housing; Sunnyvale, CA

         "Knot Language" Installation at Sausalito Library, Sausalito, CA

2016 "Simply Frida" Group Show at Wonderland Gallery; San Francisco, CA

"Phases" Installation and Solo Show at Art Works Downtown; San Rafael, CA

"Summer's Greatest Hits" Group Show at Zener Schon Gallery; Mill Valley, CA

"ARCHITECTURE" Group Show at Art Works Downtown; San Rafael, CA

"Dogfight" permanent installation for Corsair Building; New Haven, CT

2015 "Jardin" permanent installation for Social Code; San Francisco, CA

"A Night at the Casa Azul" Art Works Downtown Group Show; San Rafael,CA

2014  "Future of the Color Empire" Solo Show at Senaspace; SoHo, NY

“Staycation” Ground Floor Gallery; Brooklyln, NY

Flywheel Press Group Show; San Mateo, CA

2013 Manhattan Graphics Center Group Show; NY, NY

"Cassandra" Activate Market Street installation at Gallery Aferro with Newark Arts Council, NJ

"Into the Valley of Heart's Delight" Permanent installation at Tresser Building; Stamford, CT

2012 Bridge Gallery Group Show, Lower East Side NY

Nuits Blanche; Greenpoint, NY

"Cosmic Dust", Installation at Gowanus Ballroom, NY

2011 "Reconstructing a Midtown Forest", Chashama at the Donnell Library; NY, NY

"Art + Architecture Show"; Gowanus Ballroom; Brooklyn, NY

Storefront for Architecture Spring Gala Participant; SoHo, NY

Cynthia Rowley presents Children’s Museum of the Arts Benefitt; NY, NY

2010 "Brooklyn Ivy", Installed at Northside Piers; Brooklyn, NY

"Art + Architecture Show", Gowanus Ballroom; Brooklyn, NY

"Campfire" Group Show by Winkel + Balktick; Brooklyn, NY

"Valley of Heart’s Delight Installation", @RT Ridgewood Times Building; NY, NY

2009-2014 Curator at Baby Grand Baby Gallery

2008 "Volume Too" Solo Show at Rowan Morrison; Oakland CA

Raylene Gorum Vernissage at Shetler Studios; New York, NY

"New Constructions", Solo Show at Art Engine; San Francisco, CA

ArtXposium III; West Chicago, IL

ISOT Fair; Tokyo, Japan

London Book Art Fair; London UK

2007 "Postcards from Darwin": Exeter Phoenix Gallery; Exeter, UK

ArtXposium II; West Chicago, IL

2006 Southpoint from Ruin to Rejuvenation Exhibition; Center for Architecture, NY, NY

2005 Proj:ex, Super City; Taiwan + Hong Kong, China SAR

 

EDUCATION

2007 Central St. Martin’s, London, UK: Experimental Printing

2005 Cooper Union, NY, NY: Certified Advanced 3D Studies

2001 Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, CA: Bachelors of Architecture

2000 Ecole d’Architecture Val de Marne: Paris, France

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

2021-23  Sausalito Center for the Arts, Board Member and Innovator’s Circle

2017-23  Parks & Recreation Chair Commissioner, City of Sausalito, CA

2018-23  Board of Sausalito Community Boating Center

2014-17 Vice President of the Board of Directors for Galilee Harbor Community Assoc., Sausalito, CA

2016/19 Volunteer educator with focus on art at Willow Creek Academy, Sausalito, CA

2000/01   Led Intensive Architectural Immersion Studios for High School Students at Cal Poly, SLO