Duke Riley

Duke Riley (b. 1972) received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA from Pratt Institute. Riley is fascinated by maritime history and events around the waterways of New York City. His signature style interweaves historical and contemporary events with elements of fiction and myth to create allegorical histories. His re-imagined narratives comment on a range of issues from the cultural impact of over development and gentrification of waterfront communities to contradictions within political ideologies as well as commerce and the role of the artist in society and at war.

The Sirens of Discontent

The recent Graphicstudio collaboration with Duke Riley, The Sirens of Discontent, features an underwater protest, with marchers outfitted in apparel referencing historic and contemporary periods of revolution. Led by a siren of the sea, these protestors raise the alarm for the urgency of the moment and the need for collective action. This screenprint was inspired by a drawing commissioned by Wallabout Walls and used for a mural on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn. 

The Sirens of Discontent is a 6-run screenprint derived from an original black and white drawing. Duke envisioned the mint ink color, that represents the water, to feel like a transparent wash. The main line drawing is opaque, but all the other colors used are very transparent generating a range of values with the archival Stonehedge Kraft paper used in the edition.

A Semi-Accurate Depiction of The Baylander 514-XI and Her Aircraft While Stationed at Wallabout Bay

The cyanotype, A Semi-Accurate Depiction of The Baylander 514-XI and Her Aircraft While Stationed at Wallabout Bay, is a diagram and depiction of Riley's critically acclaimed public artwork Fly By Night (2016) commissioned by New York based public art agency Creative Time and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. During the late spring of 2016, Riley orchestrated a series of weekend evening events with a massive flock of trained pigeons. At the call of a whistle, thousands of birds emerged from their home in a converted historic boat docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The pigeons circled above the river as the sun set over Manhattan, and small leg bands, traditionally used to carry messages, were replaced with tiny LED lights, illuminating the sky in a transcendent union of public art and nature. The iconic Brooklyn Navy Yard once housed the Navy's first and largest messenger pigeon fleet in operation from the late 1860s until 1901.

Studies for To Have, And Have Not

Riley's devotion to pigeons, his spirit animal, manifests in the woodcut prints Studies for To Have, And Have Not. Referencing the title of the 1937 novel by Ernest Hemingway about a Key West fishing boat captain who is forced through dire economic circumstance to start running illegal contraband, immigrants and cargo between Florida and Cuba, these prints depict the pigeons named "To Have" and "And Have Not" and served as studies for designs for large-scale sailor valentines, an antiquated maritime folk art incorporating seashells.

Monkey Biz

Monkey Biz incorporates Riley's scrimshaw illustrative style depicting dense scenes of imaginative maritime activity inviting deeper investigation and decoding by the viewer. In the nautical narratives, Riley weaves historical and contemporary references together, providing sharp critical social commentary through references to global capitalism, trade and piracy on the open seas and the effects of consumer culture on the oceans and the Earth's natural resources. While Riley's fantastical illustrations are highly amusing and satirical, the scenes probe criminal, dangerous and marginalized societies and reveal the long trajectory of global colonization and human's disregard for the Earth's resources.

 

Further Resources

Artist's Site: dukeriley.info

2016 USF Contemporary Art Museum Exhibition: Duke Riley: Flights of Fancy 

Printmaking + Sculpture Terms

Printmaking Glossary

Sculpture Glossary

Sales

For sales, or more information about an edition, please contact Graphicstudio at (813) 974-3503 or gsoffice@usf.edu.

Copyright + Reproduction

Images of the artwork are jointly owned by the artist and Graphicstudio. Reproduction of any kind including electronic media must be expressly approved by Graphicstudio.