Contact Megan Riley
About Megan Riley
"Abstract Expressionists value expressionism over perfection, vitality over finish, fluctuation over repose, the unknown over the known, the veiled over the clear, the individual over society, and the inner over the outer."
- William C. Seitz
American artist and art historian
Beginning in 2000, the concentration of my BFA work at Western Michigan University primarily addressed the painting and drawing media. Within these media, I weaved in and out of abstract expressionism and figurative/portrait drawing and painting. With painting, in particular, I experimented with various techniques to texturize the canvas surface and play with paint on the sculpted surfaces. In addition to the media concentration of my BFA, I explored printmaking and B/W photography. Since completing my BFA, digital photography currently provides my primary means of artistic expression.
About abstract painting: One of the first techniques I experimented with included thick applications of gesso to prime the bare canvas. The result displayed a bold, sculpted, and texturized surface prior to the paint application. This primed surface provided the means to manipulate the paint in various directions and to create movement within the various compositions. Another painting technique that I integrated called the "impasto" technique is used by continually layering and overlapping paint medium to sculpt the painting surface. The result of the technique is a sculpted, bold, and vibrant surface on the canvas. The act of abstract painting facilitates maximum experimentation, exploration, and flexibility in the medium.
I seek sculpted, bold, and whimsical finished products in painting. The process of applying a mixture of intentional and spontaneous brush strokes with vibrant, vivacious color combinations provides the essential aesthetic qualities I seek in the finished product. Through continual exploration within the painting media, I attempt to achieve a variety of art-making processes and unique works of art.
In regards to the site layout, examples of painting, drawing, lithographic printmaking, silver gelatin printmaking, and digital photography are included in their appropriate categories on the website. The work of Richard Riley and Patricia Mallette is located in the category "Other Artist". Richard's work includes figurative/portrait, abstract, and landscape painting. The focus of Patricia's forthcoming work relates to abstract expressionism.
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