Ron Riley

My work, whether it be representational or abstract, displays my keen interest in the use of texture. For me texture brings a work to life in the sense that it begs the observer to reach out and touch it so as to sense the reality of it. In my work, I strive to make our visual and tactile senses work in harmony so that the observer can feel as one with each painting. A sense, as it were, of being there as part of the painting and at that particular moment in time and experience the forces and dynamics that are at play.

My abstract work reflects my keen interest in the exploration and manipulation of the many facets of texture, shape, form, and color which I seek to bring together to create paintings in which all of these are at harmony with one another and bring a sense of completeness, if you will, to the finished piece. My abstract paintings may on some occasions have certain elements that might be construed as representational, but by and large that is not my goal or intent. Again, it is rather to take the elements of art and to bring them together in such a way as to result in a finished piece which reflects these at work and are in fact what makes the painting stand on its own.

In my representational paintings, I portray images of landscapes and seascapes which evoke a sense of internal peace, tranquility, serenity, but at times the strength and its power and strength over man. Nature is always at odds it seems with itself, as is man. It can at one moment be calm and beautiful, and then, abruptly display its power and strength and thus render man at its mercy. I suppose that it is those opposing forces which fascinate me and result in my desire to put them down on canvas to record its many “moods.”

Ron was born and still lives in Washington, DC. He currently devotes himself full time to being an artist. He graduated from American University with a BA in art and was an arts educator in the Montgomery County Public Schools for many years. Ron is a member of Mid City Artists and the Washington Project for the Arts, both in Washington, DC. He also is a members of Friends of the Yellow Barn in Glen Echo Park, MD.

Ron has shown his work frequently with the Mid City Artists as well as the Capitol Hill Art League in Washington, DC. His work has been selected several times to be displayed in Gallery West’s Annual National Juried Show in Alexandria, VA. Ron has exhibited his work at the Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery in Annapolis, MD; the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA; and the 39th Annual Laurel Art Guild in Laurel, MD. Ron has had four solo shows at the Foundry Gallery in Washington, DC. He has an exhibit scheduled for the Dennis & Philip Ratner Museum in Bethesda, MD for 2013.