David Riffle (b. 1947)
Garden from Hell
acrylic & mixed media on canvas, 1989
1989 Museum Purchase funded by the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation
(h) 48” x (w) 60”
In Memory of Star
acrylic, colored pencil & collage on canvas, 1989
1989 Museum Purchase funded by the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation
(h) 24 ½” x (w) 20 ¾”
Natural Habitat
mixed media, 1998
1998 Gift of The Art Store, Inc.
(h) 10 1/2" x (w) 12" x (d) 12"
Introduction
A native of West Virginia, David Riffle is recognized for his unique sense of place. He
combines fantasy with real imagery as he communicates his perception of living along
the Poca River in Putnam County, West Virginia. His work invites the viewer to enter
his world and marvel at the recurring images of vines, fish, turtles and the great blue
heron. These images are often depicted in a dream-like environment that engulfs Riffle's
trademark half-submerged trailer.
Riffle works in mixed media, and is known for his sculptures that incorporate colored
glass and painting. The glass is likely included as reference to the area’s glass-making
history. His work reflects the idea of man’s relationship with nature, as man-made
structures compete with natural forms. Though often humorous on the surface, there is
an underlying seriousness as Riffle uses his work to express environmental issues. Riffle
has established a unique and meticulously crafted style of working, and a personal
symbolism that relates closely to his environment. He has become a highly recognized
artist in the region, and has exhibited his work nationally.
The Artist
David Riffle was born in West Virginia in 1947, in his grandmother’s home in Braxton
County. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975 at West Virginia State
College and has been exhibiting in West Virginia since 1979. He is the recipient of many
local awards and honors, including several Governor’s awards in the biannual West
Virginia Juried Exhibition. He has also had a number of solo exhibitions in Charleston,
and has participated in numerous group exhibitions in West Virginia, as well as North
Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan.
In 1981, he was included in the exhibition More than Land or Sky: Art from
Appalachia, which toured with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of
American Art. In 1989, Riffle was selected as one of four prominent local artists in the
exhibition Where the Boys Are at Sunrise Museum, Charleston, WV. In addition to his
regular exhibitions Riffle has conducted workshops and lectures in Charleston area
schools, created set designs for the Charleston Stage Company and completed several
large murals, one of which can be seen at the West Virginia State Cultural Center.
Riffle’s work was featured in a retrospective exhibition exhibited in the spring of 2005 at
the Avampato Discovery Museum in Charleston. His work is included in several
permanent collections in West Virginia.
Discussion
A withered garden is the subject the painting Garden from Hell, in which shriveled
tomato plants symbolize the end of the growing season as fall approaches. It also deals
with a bigger issue – the destruction of earth's ozone layer and global warming. This
painting is dominated by red tones, which suggest the dry earth and fall leaves and the
idea of an Armageddon landscape created by man’s carelessness towards the
environment.
Riffle presented a unique view of the garden, the
plants seen from a slightly elevated position, as if
looking down on a ruined city filled with dead trees
and detritus. The skeletal vines are still firmly
tethered to their support post with white ribbons,
and some undeveloped fruit is still visible on the
vines in the foreground of the image. The plants sit
among a dark backdrop of red and green leaf shapes
that swirl in a threatening mass around them,
suggesting the powerful force of nature at the
season’s change.
In Memory of Star David Riffle's inspiration comes
from his personal surroundings. In this piece, Riffle
presents a window with an exhaust pipe stretching
up the right side that partially blocks the view of
trees in the wooded yard. A star embedded in the
window frame and the title of the artwork refers to Riffle's dog, Star.
In this work, we are again seeing the idea of man and nature co-existing. The hard lines
of the man-made pipe and edges of the window frame contrast with the view of sunlit
woods, yet we also see a continuation of natural forms in the colored glass set into the
window panes that is reminiscent of the twisting forms and glass seen in Riffle’s
sculptural work. The leaf forms on the lower right of the window pane echo the curve
of the gray pipe seen through the window, and reflect color in the opposite corner of
the image to create visual unity, as well as joining the inside and outside worlds. A
fragment of red and white cloth is seen in the upper-left portion of the image,
presumably representing part of the American flag; perhaps intended to accompany the
star below it in solemn memorial to a beloved dog.
David Riffle is recognized for his unique sense of place, stating, “I have developed a
dependent relationship with my surroundings.” Natural Habitat encapsulates many of
the recurring elements and images he created for his 1997 solo exhibition, Riding the
Vines, an installation at the Sunrise Museum, Charleston, WV. Combining painting,
found objects and recycled materials this small assemblage
sculpture pays homage to his trailer home on the Poca
River. Riffle has suggested through the addition of painting
that this trailer is half submerged in the river, including fish
and turtles as his backyard wildlife.
The vines that occur in much of his work are a reference
to Riffle’s ongoing battle with kudzu, as well as a more
general symbol for the powerful force of nature. In this
work we also see the blue heron, leaves, and circular
forms that are frequently included in his work, seen here
around each tree, and in the glass roundels that hang from the trailer. There is a sense
in this work of nature as protector, as well as nature as a dominant and perhaps
threatening force, in the way that the claw-like forms surround the trailer. In a 2001
artist statement, Riffle wrote, “I really enjoy the construction and painting process. It
provides endless opportunities to investigate the materials and combinations.”
Style
David Riffle works in a unique and whimsical style that is very much his own and which
has remained fairly consistent throughout the past few decades. He incorporates
recycled and found materials in his work, a stylistic development resulting from years of
practice. In some of Riffle’s work there is a Surrealist slant, and perhaps the influence of
the post WWII work of artist Max Ernst, who also created apocalyptic visions in which
nature has taken over.
Sources
Claymore, Jane A Raft of Riffles, Charleston Gazette article, 1990.
Claymore, Jane David Riffle, review of 1991 Art Store exhibition, New Art Examiner,
May 1991.
Kelly, Lisa A Sketch of History, The Charleston Gazette, article, October 12, 1990.
Riffle, David CV and brief artist statement, c/o The Art Store, Charleston, WV, 2000.
Swartz, Bob Only Philosophically Successful? Sunday Gazette Mail, article
March 18, 2001