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Gov­er­nors Island Announces Com­mis­sion of New Art­work by Duke Riley

Apr 15, 2021 12:00 pm
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The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today that a mur­al by artist Duke Riley will open as part of its ongo­ing art com­mis­sion­ing series. Riley’s instal­la­tion, enti­tled Not for Nut­ten, will open at the Gov­er­nors Island Fer­ry Wait­ing Room locat­ed in the his­toric Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing on May 1 and remain on exhib­it long term, with the work on view this pub­lic sea­son and in the years ahead. Riley’s mur­al expands on the tra­di­tion of ships in a bot­tle, ref­er­enc­ing sin­gle-use plas­tic con­tain­ers of today such as deter­gent bot­tles and caulk­ing tubes, which can be found float­ing and accu­mu­lat­ing in oceans world­wide. Unlike their blown glass coun­ter­parts, Riley’s paint­ed, nau­ti­cal vignettes appear etched like scrimshaw on the sur­faces of famil­iar items that plague our water­ways. The rich­ly pig­ment­ed art­work pro­vides vis­i­tors with an intro­duc­tion to their jour­ney across the Har­bor to Gov­er­nors Island, reflect­ing on how sto­ry­telling, mem­o­ry, and human con­sump­tion all make imprints on our ever-evolv­ing under­stand­ing of place, his­to­ry, and the phys­i­cal land­scapes that we inhab­it. ​“As a his­toric cen­ter for the arts, Gov­er­nors Island is proud to wel­come yet anoth­er cel­e­brat­ed artist to enliv­en our pub­lic spaces,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Riley’s work mar­ries the Harbor’s rich his­to­ry with the Island’s present focus on the press­ing issues of the ongo­ing cli­mate cri­sis. This intri­cate­ly beau­ti­ful mur­al looks to both the past and the future, giv­ing vis­i­tors the chance to pause and reflect as they enjoy every­thing the Island has to offer.” ​“Duke Riley’s expan­sive work for the Gov­er­nors Island fer­ry build­ing links vis­i­tors to the Island’s past and present, with scenes rang­ing in time from the Island’s British occu­pa­tion to a sea crea­ture caught with a Covid-era rub­ber glove,” said Mered­ith John­son, VP of Arts and Cul­ture and Head Cura­tor at the Trust. ​“Blend­ing fact and fic­tion, humor and tragedy, Riley’s works acts as a col­lec­tion of past sto­ries anchored in the real­i­ty of what’s to come.” Riley anchors his work, Not for Nut­ten, in loca­tion with nau­ti­cal flags that spell out ​“Pag­gank”, the name giv­en to the Island by the Lenape. The name trans­lates to ​“Nut Island,” a ref­er­ence to the many nut trees found on its shores. In 1624, Dutch set­tlers called the Island ​“Noten Eylandt,” which the British lat­er mis­pro­nounced as ​“Nut­ten Island.” Riley’s play of the term ​“not for noth­ing,” a phrase whose ori­gin is spec­u­lat­ed to be unique­ly from New York City, frames the read­ing of the mur­al and its envi­ron­men­tal warn­ing, empha­siz­ing impor­tant news about to be deliv­ered. Not for Nut­ten is curat­ed by Mered­ith John­son, The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s Vice Pres­i­dent for Arts and Cul­ture and Head Cura­tor. Since open­ing to the pub­lic in 2005, the Island has been home to hun­dreds of artists and arts and cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions from across New York City, bring­ing a robust cal­en­dar of com­mis­sions, exhi­bi­tions and events to the Island’s diverse audi­ence. The Trust’s com­mis­sion­ing pro­gram gives artists the oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage with audi­ences through site-spe­cif­ic projects respond­ing to the Island’s unique con­di­tions. Exist­ing com­mis­sions that will remain on view for the 2021 sea­son include Rachel Whiteread’s Cab­in, Mark Handforth’s Yan­kee Hang­er, and Shantell Martin’s Church. Pre­vi­ous com­mis­sions include Susan Philipsz’s Day is Done, David Brooks’ Rock, Mos­qui­to and Hum­ming­bird, and Jacob Hashimoto’s Nev­er Comes Tomor­row. Learn more about pub­lic art com­mis­sions on Gov­er­nors Island at gov​is​land​.org/​t​h​i​n​g​s​-​t​o​-​d​o​/​p​u​b​l​i​c-art. Not for Nut­ten was made pos­si­ble through the gen­er­ous sup­port of Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund and The O’Grady Foun­da­tion. In 2021, Gov­er­nors Island will open to the pub­lic from May 1‑October 31. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it gov​is​land​.org. About Duke Riley Duke Riley is a Brook­lyn-based artist and sea­far­er, whose work is inter­twined with mar­itime his­to­ry and urban water­ways. His instal­la­tions, paint­ings, draw­ings, sculp­tures, and mosaics weave his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary events with ele­ments of fic­tion and myth. In 2007, Riley built, launched, and pilot­ed a full-scale repli­ca of the Tur­tle, reen­act­ing its 1776 mis­sion near the shores of Gov­er­nors Island in the But­ter­milk Chan­nel for his project The Bat­tle of Brook­lyn. Born in Boston, Riley received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and his M.F.A. from Pratt Insti­tute. Riley’s work has been wide­ly exhib­it­ed in shows and pub­lic projects in New York, nation­al­ly, and internationally.
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