David Frederick Riley "Eye to Eye: Portraits of the West" 2020

DAVID FREDERIC K RILE Y

February 10 – 22, 2020 Jackson Hole Artist Reception | Saturday, February 15 | 5:30–7:30pm

DAVID FREDERIC K RILE Y Eye to Eye: Portraits of the West

Jackson Hole | Scottsdale | AltamiraArt.com

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Nurture Oil on canvas | 60 x 48 inches Enquire

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David Frederick Riley Transfixing eyes: layered with emotional intensity and instinctual force.

Whether painting a person or an animal, David Frederick Riley makes the gaze a conduit for connection with viewers.

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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.

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Howl Oil on canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire

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Frosty Buck Oil on canvas | 48 x 60 inches Enquire

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Wanderlust Oil on canvas | 60 x 48 inches Enquire

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Misty Oil on canvas | 60 x 48 inches Enquire

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Chief Duck Oil on canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire

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Cowboy Cards Oil on canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire

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Peek a Boo Oil on canvas | 36 x 36 inches Enquire

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Grin Oil on canvas | 60 x 48 inches Enquire

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Drift Oil on canvas | 48 x 72 inches Enquire

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172 Center Street | Jackson, Wyoming 83001 AltamiraArt.com | 307-739-4700