The Repatriation of King Skellig Mór: Solo exhibition by Duke Riley
Upcoming exhibition
Overview
Leave it to artist Duke Riley to weave together a narrative involving an Irish goat, a talking seal, battleships, Boston history, and lots of plastic trash. These are the elements of discovery in his upcoming solo exhibition at Praise Shadows titled The Repatriation of King Skellig Mór. Riley, a Boston native based in Brooklyn, will broaden the repertoire of work shown in his recent Brooklyn Museum solo exhibition Death to the Living: Long Live Trash. The presentation will include new iterations of his acclaimed scrimshaws, sailor’s valentines, and the debut of a new type of work inspired by Victorian-era ruby glass.
The exhibition’s namesake, Skellig Mór, was a real-life celebrity goat that was brought to Boston from Killorglin, in County Kerry, Ireland. The animal was the subject of headlines across The Boston Globe and The New York Times in the early 1900s. Riley, known for his layered visual chronicles of the entwined and often absurd interplays of institutional power and the natural world, became fascinated with the fate of Skellig Mór.
