ARTIST STATEMENT
At the heart of my work is an ongoing exploration of the elusive and disorienting nature of pictorial experience. Deeply rooted in the fundamentals of painting, my work is a perpetual negotiation between the tangible reality of paint and the illusion it creates.
My recent paintings translate the forceful energy of landscape into stratified, textured canvases, where layers of color and movement are balanced by studied forms to create a sense of both chaos and harmony. By doing so, I embrace the tension between precision and spontaneity. With each passage of paint, I build a surface that invites a visceral response through a process that relies on intuition and immersion rather than premeditated outcomes.
After years of exploring the landscape as a foundation for my painting practice, I’ve begun to break free from the constraints of traditional pictorial space. First drawn to the landscape for its vastness and constant transformation, I struggled to translate that openness onto the canvas. By creating a shape within the picture plane—a frame within a frame—I have found new freedom to engage with the landscape abstractly and explore its essence more fully. The forms I depict may suggest the solidity of stones, yet they may also transform into portals to ambiguous spaces. These paintings represent my most refined attempt yet to capture my experience of and dialogue with nature.
BIO
Born 1977 in Wareham, MA.
In 1999 Riley received BFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In 2004 he received an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania.
His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Northeast including; Danese/Corey in New York City, TSA NY in Brooklyn, NY, Gallery 263 in Cambridge, MA, Lamont Gallery in Exeter, NH, Arthur Ross Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, NY, and several others.
He has received grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Berkshire Taconic Foundation. Riley has been an artist in residence at the Joan Mitchell Center, Yaddo, and the Vermont Studio Center.
Riley currently lives and works in Washington DC and maintains a studio in Colle di Tora, in Italy's Turano Valley.