Bruce Riley at The Miller Gallery

Bruce Riley’s newest works now on view at The Miller Gallery are truly objects to be savored. Riley, a Chicago based Cincinnati native, has cut his teeth as a working (and self sustaining) artist and he has the bona fides to prove it. Riley has been the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Award, several museum shows, and numerous regional and national exhibitions. In his latest series Organic Figuration, Bruce Riley has had something of a technical breakthrough. Created by amassing layers of water based media and resin; what make Riley’s best works on view so compelling is the manner in which the luminous strata rise and fall, twist and turn, threaten to decay, and finally coalesce into visually stunning images. As the title of the series suggests, Riley’s new work at times implies something not only of the figure, but also of the cellular, and it is this micro-macro relationship that gives these works a hypnotic, undulating sense of rhythm.

Proud Moanin’ Loudhorn (2010) possibly the best piece in the show, is possessed of all the characteristics that make Riley’s recent creative output so robust. A dense labyrinth of color and shape, Proud Moanin’ Loudhorn demands that you become not so much viewer as archeologist. Unlike pieces such as Believer (2010) and Bee Bonet (2010) in which the imagery seem to rise up from the bottom of the picture plane, or Warhead (2010) and the Romulus and Remus (2008) series in which shape is suspended centrally in an ambiguous space, the forms in Proud Moanin’ Loudhorn move in several directions simultaneously. They expand outward and then seem to contract, descend and suddenly make a right hand turn, effortlessly guiding the eye along the edges of the picture and back towards the center.

Riley is at his best when his work displays a dense, layered orgy of form that is matched by an equally energetic sense of color. When his shapes are more restricted (essentially a series of repeated, organized dots) as in the case of works like Tricome (2010) and paired with an achromatic pallet the result is a restful, but no less satisfying contrast. It is only when the simplicity of shape is combined with a higher intensity and saturation of color that his pieces miss the mark. In this current exhibition, all over composition too, does not always work for Riley. The complexity of his process demands hierarchy; the dense clusters of figure and color that give way to restful fields of modulated hue and value are what provide the Organic Figuration series with their ultimate impact. Additionally, Riley’s smaller works while charming in their own right often have a tentativeness that stands in stark contrast to the bold grandeur of the best works on display.


It is not every day that one feels that they are in the presence of some truly astounding images. And it seems likely that it is only a matter of time before Bruce Riley’s work receives the wider recognition that his latest painting deserves.
- Alan Pocaro


Bruce Riley 2010 at The Miller Gallery, Hyde Park Square, 2715 Erie Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45208. (513) 871-4420. Through June 25.
Photos: Above, Proud Moanin’ Loudhorn (2010), 39x36in.; below, Tricome (2010), 72x48in.