SOLO EXHIBITION | JACKSON, WY
Altamira Fine Art Jackson is pleased to present a solo exhibtion for David Frederick Riley, "Eye to Eye: Portraits of the West", opening Febraury 10, 2020.
Please join us for an Artist Reception on Saturday, February 15 from 5:30-7:30pm. The artist will be in attendance.
Whether painting a person or an animal, David Frederick Riley makes the gaze a conduit for connection with viewers—transfixing and intense. Having just joined the stable of artists at Altamira Fine Art, Riley and his work aligns with the genre-defying gestalt of the gallery.
By translating the technical mastery of portraiture into minimal compositions, Riley bridges aesthetic modes: traditional and contemporary, wildlife and figurative. “The perspective isn’t only how you would interact with the animal in nature,” he says. “My approach is more how you would capture the essence, the emotion of the animal.” As such, his paintings take on ethereal even spiritual affects. “The viewer connects to the character.”
This expansive approach is evidenced by his broad experience. Trained as an illustrator, he applied his draughtsmanship to children’s books, magazines and commissioned portraits before turning his immaculate eye to wildlife. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Riley earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in illustration, his profession for more than a decade. In the meantime, he moved West and found himself surrounded by a panoply of wild species: moose, mule deer, mountain lions, bobcats. Repeated exposure to such fascinating creatures served as a stewing source of inspiration.
Shifting away from illustration, he began pursuing portrait commissions, pushing his detail-oriented practice into new realms of refinement. One day several years ago, as a break from the intensity of figurative work, he painted a massive ram on a five-foot canvas. “It was a fun painting—loose and expressive,” he said. “I realized that freedom of expression was what I was missing.” So he did a couple more wildlife pieces. Of the first series of eight he painted, he sold five straight from his studio.
Now based in Midway, Utah, Riley sees himself moving into even more genres in the future, such as aquatic and turn-of-the-century Americana. African wildlife intrigues him as well as an adventure beyond his current focus on North American fauna.
Pre-sales available.
Please contact the gallery for more details, (307) 739-4700, connect@altamiraart.com
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Drawing on his wide experience, David Frederick Riley uses his technical skill to excavate the emotional and spiritual character of the animals and people he paints, all presented in contemporary compositions. Trained as an illustrator, he applied his draughtsmanship to children’s books, magazines and commissioned portraits before turning his immaculate eye to wildlife.
A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Riley earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in illustration, his profession for more than a decade. In the meantime, he moved West and found himself surrounded by a panoply of wild species: moose, mule deer, mountain lions, bobcats. Repeated exposure to such fascinating creatures served as a stewing source of inspiration.
David Riley has recently been a finalist in the Art Renewal Center's Annual Salon, Oil Painter's of America National Juried Exhibition, and was in the top 100 finalists in London's BP Portrait Award.