David Frederick Riley, "Larger than Life" 2022

DAVID FREDERIC K RILE Y

February 14 – 26, 2022 Scottsdale Opening Reception | February 17 | 7:00–9:00pm

DAVID FREDERIC K RILE Y Larger than Life

Jackson Hole | Scottsdale | AltamiraArt.com

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Cool Charm Oil on canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire

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DAVID FREDERICK RILEY A favorite song from eighth grade, rediscovered, teleports the listener back to that moment, to that self that swooned to the tune.

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“All of our previous selves are still alive in us, but under the surface,” David Frederick Riley says, reflecting on his life as an artist ahead of his Altamira exhibition.

To prepare, Riley has been perusing his old sketchbooks, many of which are filled with the faces he idolized as a teen and young adult: famous athletes, musicians, Hollywood icons. “Portraiture is my oldest love of painting and drawing.” As such, this latest series of celebrity portraits— seemingly a departure from the wildlife and Western subjects that have defined his oeuvre over the past decade—actually represent a full circle return to his creative roots.

“Looking through these sketchbooks, I’ve been immediately transported back to who I was when I drew that picture. The act of drawing a portrait leaves a mark somewhere inside me, and now, I’m going back to that mark. In some cases, I feel a twinge of sadness and depression, while others stir excitement and positivity.”

Remembrance mixed with acumen.

His empathic renderings of animals—

influenced by his rural surroundings in Utah—has taught him volumes. “Painting wildlife has made me acutely aware of how the subject interacts with the viewer, how they enter or exist within the frame of the canvas, how composition helps tell the story and indicates the character of the animal.”

Riley embraces the challenge of applying such lessons to people, the dualism of the known and unknown. In a strange twist of body-mind synchronicity, the artist recently broke his dominant hand, an injury that introduces another form of aesthetic duality: to avoid pain, he must consider each mark he makes, while also relinquishing control whatever arises. With every brushstroke, he asks himself: “Is this worth the pain it’s going to cause to make it?” As a result, his current paintings are more loose, less fussed. “I’m putting a mark down and leaving it.”

“These new portraits draw from my current vibration. They’ll be new but they’ll also pull on those previous experiences from former selves.”

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All Shook Up Oil on canvas | 72 x 60 inches Enquire

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Bombshell Oil on canvas | 60 x 40 inches Enquire

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Angst Oil on canvas | 60 x 40 inches Enquire

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Black Mamba Oil on canvas | 72 x 60 inches Enquire

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Bond, James Bond Oil on canvas | 60 x 48 inches Enquire

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Hepburn Oil on canvas | 60 x 40 inches Enquire

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If 6 was 9 Oil on canvas | 60 x 48 inches Enquire

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Natural Mystic Oil on canvas | 48 x 60 inches Enquire

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Sultan of Swat Oil on canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire

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7038 E Main Street | Scottsdale AZ AltamiraArt.com | 480-949-1256

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