By hacking the plastic waste found, Duke Riley connects mining practices throughout human history: colossal



Art

#climate crisis #Duke Riley #plastic #scrimshaw #sculpture

In 1860, the US government introduced kerosene as an alternative for lighting lamps. Whale oil had previously dominated the market but was unsustainable the scary number of animals killed to provide energy. The country has rapidly switched to fossil fuels, trading one harmful mining practice for another. While whaling has had its economic implications, it has also given birth to a largely nautical art form known as scrimshawor engravings in bone or ivory.

Artist Duke Riley is sympathetic to this story and its modern implications. He collects jugs of laundry detergent, flip flops and bottles that once held household products when washed up near beaches and carves allegories and incisive ornaments into their surfaces. Painted in a warm, grainy beige, the salvaged waste mimics the traditional whalebones of scrimshaw, while the artist’s signature wit emerges through contemporary narratives of oil barons or sea creatures carrying human waste.

« NO. 363 of the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum” (2023), painted, reclaimed plastic, ink, wax, 2.5 x 4 x 0.25 in.

Having grown up in New England, Riley attended maritime museums with his family as a child. These experiences formed his « early ideas of what art was » and the aesthetics of seafaring and folk art emerged early in his practice – it’s also not surprising that today Riley often works from a boat docked near the Rhode Island. As problems with trash and plastic pollution became more apparent during his visits to the ocean, he saw an opportunity to expand his scrimshaw work. “I was walking along the beach one day and found a piece of plastic that I thought was a bone and I picked it up. It turned out to be the handle of a deck brush for scrubbing the deck of a boat,” he tells Colossal.

This meeting resulted in what is now a growing series of engraved sculptures, many of which include the Poli S. Tirene Memorial Maritime Museum. Diverging from the cheerful and bright colors of the packaging, Riley distorts the containers designed to encourage unbridled consumption to the detriment of the environment. “I’ve always used a lot of found materials,” she shares. « For me, it’s about taking a found material or something that’s discarded or junk and trying to transform it in a way that’s almost unrecognizable. »

“Echelon of Uncertainty (Bad Guys)” (2022), reclaimed painted plastic in wood and glass case, 18 x 51 x 6 inches

Together, the works position plastic waste as relics of our time with the potential to outlive humanity. “When you go to a maritime museum and you see these different scrimshaw portraits of whale teeth, they are often portraying the people who have benefited the most from the whale oil industry and who are primarily responsible for the complete eradication of two whale species from the planet, Riley says.He also draws on this tradition, carving stylized renditions of Exxon chairman John Kenneth Jamieson or Arnold Schwartz, who founded Paragon Oil which he later sold to Texaco, into the hard surfaces.

Whether depicting a hungover couple or a tycoon tumbling into the ocean, Riley strives to use satire as a way to make the effects of pollution and the climate crisis more accessible. “Using humor is sometimes an easier way to get people involved in things that are too big to wrap their heads around. When you talk about any kind of difficult topic, it’s so much easier (to use humor to) talk about something that’s hurtful or challenging and reach out to people and not feel like you’re preaching,” she says.

Riley is currently working on an upcoming show in Los Angeles and a project focused on fast fashion. You can follow the updates and see more of her scrimshaw sculptures on Instagram.

Detail from “Echelon of Uncertainty (Bad Guys)” (2022), reclaimed painted plastic in wood and glass case, 18 x 51 x 6 in

“NO. 108 of the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum” (2020), painted, reclaimed plastic, ink, wax, 12.5 x 4.75 x 2.25 in.

« NO. 367 del Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum” (2023), painted, reclaimed plastic, ink, wax, 2.5 x 4 x 0.25”.

“NO. 66-P of the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum” (2019), painted, reclaimed plastic, ink, wax, 12.75 x 7.5 x 3.5 in.

“NO. 26 of the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum” (2020), painted, reclaimed plastic, ink, wax, 12.25 x 7.25 x 3.5 inches

« NO. 365 of the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum” (2023), painted, reclaimed plastic, ink, wax, 2.5 x 4 x 0.25 in.

#climate crisis #Duke Riley #plastic #scrimshaw #sculpture

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