© Courtesy of Erin M. Riley and Galerie Julien Cadet
Born in 1985, Cape Cod, MA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Erin M. Riley’s meticulously crafted, large-scale tapestries depict intimate, erotic, and psychologically raw imagery that reflects upon relationships, memories, fantasies, sexual violence, and trauma. Collaging personal photographs, images sourced from the internet, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera to create her compositions, the Brooklyn-based weaver exposes the range of women’s lived experiences and how trauma weighs on the search for self-identity. In her review of Riley’s most recent solo exhibition, The Consensual Reality of Healing Fantasies at P·P·O·W, Roberta Smith of the New York Times wrote, “Her richly variegated colors and complex, arresting scenes take full advantage of tapestry’s stitch-by-stitch autonomy.” Riley received her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art.
Her work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at P·P·O·W, New York; Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris; Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs; Gana Art Gallery, Seoul; among others. Riley is the recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship Grant, 2021 and an American Academy of Arts & Letters Art Purchase Prize, 2021 and has completed residencies at MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire and the Museum of Art and Design, New York. Her work is currently featured in 52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, manifesto of fragility and Kingdom of the Ill at Museion, Bolzano, Italy. Her work was recently on view at the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art.
Biography by P.P.O.W. Gallery
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
— questions & answers, as part of Art Basel Miami Beach Meridians, PPOW Gallery, Miami, FL, US
2021
— The Consensual Reality of Healing Fantasies, P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, NY
2020
— A Reminder of Bring There, Jonathan Hopson, Gallery, Houston, TX
2018
— Used Tape, P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, NY
2017
— Head On, Never Apart, Montreal, QC, CA
— Simple, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Fransisco, CA
2016
— 18/bi/f/ma, Brilliant Champions, Brooklyn, NY
— Anew, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
2015
— Darkness Lies Ahead, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
2014
— The Pain Comes in Waves, OGAARD Gallery, Oakland, CA
— Crimson Landslide, Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA
2013
— Undo, University of Wisconsin Gallery, Oshkosh, WI
— Show Me More, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012
— Crush, Extension Gallery, Boston, MA
— Forgotten in a File, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011
— Erin M Riley, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
— Graphic, Central Utah Arts Center, Ephraim, UT
2010
— Erin M Riley: New Works, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
— Daddy Issues, Helene Davis Gallery, Artspace, Richmond, VA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
— re-materialized: the stuff that matters, kaufmann repetto, New York, NY and Milan, IT
2022
— Kingdom of the Ill: Second chapter of TECHNO HUMANITIES (2021 - 2023), Museion, Bolzano, Italy
— Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
— Material Knowledge, Arsenal Contemporary Art, New York, NY, US
— Biennale de Lyon, manifesto of fragility, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, Lyon, FR
— Peripheries, New Child Gallery, Antwerpen, BE
— Line By Line, curated by Janice Lessman-Moss, CVA Gallery, Kent State University School of Art, Kent, OH, US
2021
— Art Basel Art Fair, PPOW Gallery, Miami, FL, US
— We're not meant to do this alone, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD, US
— Art Basel Art Fair, PPOW Gallery, Basel, CH
— IRL (In Real Life), Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
2020
— Blast Over, curated by Christian Rex van Minnen, Ruttkowski 68, Paris, FR
— Frieze London, P.P.O.W. Gallery, London, UK
— Shag, curated by Laura Hutson Hunter, Nashville Scene, Nashville, TN
— BLUNT!, Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris, FR
— Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond, Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY, US
— Myselves, curated by Joshua Friedman, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
— The inaugural Triennial for Photography and New Media, curated by Matt Black, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, NO
— Felix Art Fair, PPOW gallery, Los Angeles, CA
— 1988, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019
— Art Basel Art Fair, P.P.O.W. Gallery, Miami, FL
— Strangers In Town, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, DE
— Frieze London, P.P.O.W. Gallery, Regent’s Park, London, UK
— Textus Ex Machina, curated by Peter Bencze, aqb Project Space, Budapest, HU
— Group Show, Galerie Julien Cadet, Montpellier, FR
— Time Bomb, Wadström Tönnheim Gallery, Marbella, ES
— Condo Complex, The Sunday Painter, PPOW gallery, London, UK
— Highs and Lows, Mastbooks, curated by Justin Adian, New York, NY
2018
— Réalisme d'aujourd'hui, Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris, FR
— Art Basel Art Fair, P.P.O.W. Gallery, Miami, FL
— SKINS, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
— Weaving New Worlds, William Morris Gallery, London, UK
— We The People, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
— We Rise, Los Angeles, CA
— Buffering, MELK Galleri, Oslo, NO
— 29th Annual Benefit Art Auction, MassArt, Boston, MA
— New Threads, Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
— The Armory Show, P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, NY
— Into Action, Los Angeles, CA
2017
— NSFW: Female Gaze, Museum of Sex, New York, NY
— Daughters of Penelope, Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
— Narrative Horizons, The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA
— Confabulations of Millennia, Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine
— College of Art, Portland, ME
— Here and Now, The Holburne Museum, Bath, UK
— Feminine Product, The Void Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
— CON-Figuration, Postmasters, New York, NY
2016
— Winter Group Exhibition, P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York, NY
— Winter Group Exhibition, Brilliant Champions, Brooklyn, NY
— Winter Group Exhibition, Athen B. Gallery, Oakland, CA
— Frieze London, P.P.O.W. Gallery, Regent’s Park, London, UK
— Juxtapoz x Superflat, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
— Fertile Solitude, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
— Juxtapoz x Superflat, Pivot Art + Culture, Seattle, WA
— You Can Call Me Baby, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY
— Here and Now, The National Center for Craft & Design, Lincolnshire, UK
2015
— KITH: HOMAGE, Miami Beach, FL
— Miami Project, Hashimoto Contemporary, Miami Beach, FL
— Soft Core, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
— I Know You Know, Kinfolk, Brooklyn, NY
— Summer Show, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
— Scenic Route, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
— Data Flow: Digital Influence, Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, VIC, AU
2014
— Narcissism and The Self Portrait, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY
— December Exhibition, Galerie Wolfsen, Aalborg, Denmark
— Summer Mixer, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
— Invitational Small Works, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
— Reality Loop, VEST Gallery, Aarhus, DK
— Competition Team, Eric Schindler Gallery, Richmond, VA
RESIDENCIES
— Dieu Donné, 2019, Brooklyn, NY, US
— The Corporation of Yaddo, 2018, Saratoga Springs, NY
— The MacDowell Colony, 2018, Peterborough, NH
— Museum of Art and Design Artist Studios, 2015, New York, NY
— Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 2012, Amherst, VA
— Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, 2012, Omaha, NE
— Vermont Studio Center, 2011, Johnson, VT
— McColl Center for Visual Art, 2011, Charlotte, NC
— The MacDowell Colony, 2010, Peterborough, NH
— Emmanuel College, 2010, Boston, MA
AWARDS
— American Academy of Arts and Letters, Art Purchase Prize Winner, 2021, New York, NY
— United States Artists Fellowship Grant, 2021, Chicago, IL
— Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Grant, 2012, New York, NY
— Vermont Studio Center Artist-in-Residence Full Fellowship, 2011, Johnson, VT
— Kittredge Foundation Grant Recipient, 2011, Cambridge, MA
— Best in Show, Radius 250, 2009, Artspace, Richmond, VA
— Project Completion Grant, 2009, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
— Graduate Academic Tuition Assistantship, 2008, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA
— Graduate Academic Tuition Assistantship, 2007, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA
— Marilyn Pappas Award, 2007, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
— Barbara L. Kuhlman Foundation, 2006, Inc. Fiber Scholarship, Willet, NY
— Barbara L. Kuhlman Foundation, 2005, Inc. Fiber Scholarship, Willet, NY
PUBLIC COLLECTION
— The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
EDUCATION
2009
— MFA: Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2007
— BFA: Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA