Enrico Riley’s Euro-African heritage kindles the convergence of the rigorous and the magical on his painted surfaces. As a painter the process is important, but
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the result is not just a painting. His work is the continuation of both the Renaissance tradition of the ‘frame’ as window and the African tradition of the ritual
object. The shift between the two is more than a question of physical dimension. The painted wooden works sit two inches off the wall, asserting their presence. Like the African masks that inspire them, these objects possess mystical qualities. These qualities increase as Riley finds his own path into the 3D realm.