Bill Riley

Today we heard from Bill Riley who regards himself as a painter, who does not really like painting at all. He feels as though film 'does it better'. Riley likes to push his work, and asks himself what other processes and materials can be used to influence what the audience/viewers see, feel or experience.

After the lecture we went to the Te Tuhi gallery in Pakuranga and viewed an exhibition called "Modern Science". I found it extremely interesting to see what has been regarded as modern science. I found most of the pieces were moving image, shown with projectors and televisions. Even though I was enjoying the show, I could not help but think "why are we here?, This has nothing to do with Bill Riley's work" It was not until I got home after the gallery visit that I realised the show did connect to Riley, and quite well.

The exhibition was about pushing boundaries and stepping outside the known lines of the particular practice. Alex Monteith was one of the artists showing her work, she had a five channel piece of air force trick planes, practicing their routine over the beautiful countryside. The cameras were assembled on the back of the planes so you could see behind each plane, and the tracks that were being left by the smoke. This created an amazing effect, when the first plane was out in front creating a formation where the other four planes followed there was a layering effect in each screen, all different to the other ones. Similar to the work of Riley. Rileys' layering technique is done by casting paint onto a large sheet of glass, letting the paint dry until it is flexible enough to pull off in a big sheet, he then cuts it to the desired shape or form.

The point I'm trying to get as it Riley is a painter who paints in a non-painterly way. He still uses the mediums of a painter, but the processes he uses are different. His work and the way he makes it, is a 'modern science' in itself.