~DUKE RILEY . . OPENING PIX

DUKE RILEY – ‘See You At The Finish Line’
opened NOV 1, 2013
the show runs thru JAN 11, 2014
MAGNAN METZ GALLERY – 521 West 26th St, CHELSEA, NYC.


a picturesque MARY GO ROUND played the accordion and sang sad sea-worthy ditties, whilst, DUKE RILEY, walked through the opening crowd . . anonymous.


DUKE RILEY, in full face ‘mask. I mean, it was the night after Halloween !!
but strangely, even though he was the only one in ‘costume’, and perhaps the only one in full dress shirt and bright blue tie (!!) – that only seemed to make him blend more, into . . the crowd.


the opening was so crowded, it was hard to see the art, in full. but no worries, it resonated throughout. there were large scale wall pieces, smaller drawings, ‘bird-eye’ view videos, artifact display tables, two charts of tiny pigeon ‘backpacks’, large scale fantasy Chinese zodiac animal masks, and more . . .


DUKE RILEY, look closely !!
it’s . . . ‘shell’ art. DUKE has exhibited large scale mosaic murals before, which were made with small ceramic tiles, but these gorgeous things, were composed entirely . . of seashells. and they were very mandala-like.
as opposed to ‘narrative’.
though come to think of it, they all did bear messages, as in, ‘letters’ / ‘words’.

oh, yeah. give me NEW YORK CITY over MIAMI, any day.
gritty over sandy, is my motto.

gritty vs sandy ?
gritty wins.

MORE OPENING PIX – TO FOLLOW.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH