Tennessee sculptor Raymond Padron carves hyper-realistic wood wall reliefs of familiar and often meaningful items from your past.
Artist: Born in Maryland, Padron grew up in the North Virginia suburbs of DC. He graduated with a BA in art from Messiah College in Grantham, PA, and moved to Chattanooga, TN.
In 2011, Padron received his MFA in studio art at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He returned to Chattanooga, where he works out of a studio in his home basement and teaches art at a private high school.
In the beginning: When Padron moved to Chattanooga, he worked as a studio assistant for several different professional artists. He later co-founded a design and fabrication business.
About six years ago, he stepped away from that business to teach and focus on his art.
Art & materials: Wood-carved wall reliefs, or wall-mounted sculptures, that resemble articles of clothing (a bandana), objects (baseball glove) and natural elements, such as leaves. ($400 for small works and $3,200 to $6,500 for larger pieces).
Padron uses many types of wood, including maple, poplar and yellow pine, but favors basswood for his sculptures. While some works are done by hand, Padron has been experimenting with digital scanning and CNC routing processes.
What’s popular: A clothing sculpture series of wall reliefs, including a bandana (right) and a red hoodie (below right).
Padron said the series was about tapping into his connection to these clothing pieces, including what or who they represent and how that perspective shifts and changes over time.
For example, the bandana can be associated with bikers, cowboys, farmers, hip-hop stars – and Covid.
Tools: CNC (computer numerical control) router, angle grinders, die grinder, chisels and whatever gets the job done.
Inspirations: Many including:
- Contemporary artists, Charles Ray, Robert Gober, Vija Celmins and Martin Puryear.
- Older art and artists: Grindling Gibbons, Spanish wood polychrome sculptures and small wood carvings (Santos de Palo) from Latin America.
Recent honors: 2022 recipient of a grant from the Current Art Fund, which supports visual artists and artist collectives across the state of Tennessee.
Recent projects:
- A workshop, where he used a specific leather jacket, as a reference for the lithograph.
- Some pieces in the “Interconnect” exhibit at the Echo Contemporary Art gallery in Atlanta. 2024.
- The Highland Park Point Cloud project at Stove Works, a contemporary art space in Chattanooga. Padron’s project was a collection of 36 objects, each scanned from the landscape of his neighborhood (a former superfund site) and CNC carved in wood. 2023.
Where to buy:
- Raymondpadron.com
- Swan Coach House gallery (swangallery.org) or in person. Through July 25.
Get social:
- Instagram: @raymond.padron.art
