Sean Riley lives and works in Washington, DC and Italy’s Turano Valley. He received a BFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Northeast US. He has received grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Berkshire Taconic Foundation and has been an artist in residence at the Joan Mitchell Center, Yaddo, and the Vermont Studio Center. His art has been published in SHIFT, Open Doors Review, Heavy Feather Review, Gigantic Sequins, and Passengers Journal. More of his work can be seen at seanrileystudio.com and @studioseanriley.
Artist Statement: My work is a metaphysical exploration of the world around me. I make colorful oil paintings on canvas and black and white ink drawings on paper. Both practices take their cues from the balanced and often beautiful dynamics of the natural world. I feel fortunate to have formed a close relationship with a landscape in the remote Turano Valley of central Italy. With careful attention to value and texture, my ink drawings depict forms from the valley as both stable and volatile while using imagery ranging from pictorial to abstract to render experiences of vast landscapes within the confines of the picture plane.
