Paul Riley

Sarah Myerscough Fine Art was pleased to introduce Paul Riley's work into the stable of gallery artists recently, with his first solo exhibition in seven years held in October 2010. Riley, a graduate of the RA schools, had taken a sabbatical from his established career as a still life painter and his return to art had been greatly anticipated by collectors and followers alike.

Riley paints still lives which resonate slightly further than the edges of his canvas. Like the greatest practitioners of the genre – from Zurburan to Morandi – he recognises that the "success" of a still life relies less on what is present in the painting than what is absent. Subject and object, composition and technique are relevant only as means to an end, as vehicles for emotional intensity. The artist himself likens the paintings to the fleeting, expectant silence prior to a particularly aggressive piece of music - a heady moment suffused with anticipation and barely suppressed energy. Whatever the simile, they transcend the ephemerality and passivity of the subject, becoming intense, scintillating meditations in paint.

Paul Riley has exhibited extensively in London with Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, Curwen Gallery, The Blue Gallery, The New Graften Gallery, Gallery Fine, and Berkeley Square Gallery. He has also exhibted in America in New York, Chigaco and Palm Beach. Riley has also received numerous prestigious art awards including the Landseer Scholarship, the Richard Ford Award, the Elisabeth Greenshield Award and was shortlisted for the Villiers David Prize. In 2008, the artist also received a major commission for five paintings for P & O Ventura Luxury Cruise Liner.