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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Article 28 from the Polystyrene Memorial Maritime Museum
Duke Riley (American, born in 1972)
2020–2021
Medium/Technique
Salvaged painted plastic in wood and glass case
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 30.5 × 15.2 × 45.7 cm (12 × 6 × 18 in.)
Credit Line
William E. Nickerson Fund and American Decorative Arts Curators Fund
Accession Number2021.581
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPlastics
Duke Riley combines folklore, tattoo-inspired aesthetics, and found items to articulate a highly personal artistic aesthetic as well as a personal library of symbols and meanings. Riley’s work is born from, and thus inextricably highlights, the environmental impact of plastic waste on the seashore. Riley incorporates tattoo-like markings of wildlife, including whales and fish, that gesture to maritime histories and traditions of painting and mark-making related to seafaring. These symbols also allude to the ways in which plastic waste threatens these animals’ habitats.
DescriptionBleach bottle
Provenance2021, sold by Praise Shadows, Brookline, MA to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 30, 2021)