Duke Riley “See You At The Finish Line”
Magnan Metz Gallery
This event has ended.
Magnan Metz Gallery presents Duke Riley fourth solo exhibition.
Trading with the Enemy: Four years of planning and eight months of breeding and homing pigeons was the beginning of this project addressing the political and historical aspect of illicit smuggling, rum running within the Southernmost American city, and the only nation to uphold the the Trading with the Enemy Act. Up until the embargo regular crossings between Key West and its sister city Havana were commonplace, and the ships Captains regularly kept homing pigeons to relay messages of safe arrival or distress.
Rileys pigeon loft constructed out of reclaimed materials off the island of Key West will move into the gallery along with some of the pigeons that “successfully completed the mission.” Harnesses worn by the birds were either “smugglers” carrying contraband and named after historical smugglers, or “documentarians” wearing customized cameras, named after filmmakers who have had brushes with the law. Paintings, mosaic, drawings and footage of flight will be on view.
The Rematch: Sent to China by smArtpower, an initiative of the USA Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in conjunction with the Bronx Museum, Riley had 45 days to complete a participatory piece that involved local arts organizations, communities and the dialogue and civic engagement amongst them. In his characteristic style, Riley put his own take on the legend of the Chinese zodiac. Riley explains, “It is well known that the rat, the winner of the race, cheated. Nevertheless, this oversight established an order that has remained a celebrated tradition for centuries… In the interest of fairness, I propose a rematch!”
Working with the local community along the canals of Zhujiajiao, Riley restaged the race with traditional gondolas complete with all twelve animals, opera singers adorned with hand made animal masks performing songs from the “first animal” perspective, making a musical case for why that zodiac (sheng xiao) character should have won the original race. Riley states “No calendars will be reset at the finish line nor will any closer understanding of that mythical day be realized. The only realization will be a brief moment of divine absurdity between two shores.”
Duke Riley received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a MFA from Pratt Institute. His exhibitions and projects over the past several years have garnered much praise including solo shows at Cleveland MOCA; Philagrafika at the Philadelphia Historical Society and Those About to Die Salute You at the Queens Museum of Art which won AICA second place for “Best Project in Public Space 2010. In 2010-11 Riley was the recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant , the Joan Mitchell Grant, and chosen as one out of 25 American artists to be selected for smARTpower project, through the State Department, which sent him to China. He recently designed the book cover for Nick Cave “The Complete Lyrics 1978-2013”, participated in the Mercosul Bienal, Brazil (2011); designed a subway station for the MTA Commission Subway Station and Art for Transit poster artist (2009-2011); held the First St. Patricks Day Parade in Havana as part of the Havana Biennial (2009); and was a grantee for the Art Matters.
Media
Schedule
from November 02, 2013 to January 25, 2014
Opening Reception on 2013-11-01 from 18:00 to 20:00