David Frederick Riley Lost and Found

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In this moment, David Frederick Riley finds himself in a dichotomous dance of lost and found: He has rediscovered his lifelong fascination with drawing by letting him-self reveal certain lines of the base layer and losing them in other places. A finding by losing.

“Line is so powerful: it will call all of the attention to itself if you let it,” Riley says. “I want the line to be visible, but I still want it to take a backseat to the expression and the emotion of the face. The line has to be complementary but not overpowering. That is delicate balance to find.”

Growing up fascinated by comics and drawing, Riley evolved his childhood passion into his fine-art painting practice. Now keen to merge the two, he is layering his drawing instinct with his brushwork. The result: New works, bound for Altamira Fine Art, that reveal his process while simultaneously leaving parts unfinished, lines un-resolved, brushstrokes visible and patches of paint unblended. These areas—revealing his skilled hand and his refined restraint—invite the viewer to engage and interpret. “Each step of my process is there somewhere on the canvas for you to find,” he says. “I hope this technique is more revealing of process and layers and passes.”

Color aids in this delicate exploration, evidenced in the blue-green outline of the raccoon and the tree trunk upon which the mammal leans in Hide and Seek. Through his subtle use of color along the raccoon’s ears, body and the bark, Riley achieves a harmonious interplay of subject and technique. In Wonder, the burnt si-enna he used to blur the bear into the background accentuates the emotion of the ursine expression.

In fact, emotion and mindfulness suffuse the entire series. “I find less takes more time,” he says. “This new mode keeps me very conscious and thoughtful as I’m painting. It makes me pause before I add more: Will this detail help? Will it be too much?”

Lost and Found
June 22 - July 3, 2021
Altamira Fine Art Jackson Hole

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