ARTIST COLLECTION 3: Riley A. Polek-Davis
Below the Surface Docuseries AC3: Riley A. Polek-Davis
Riley A. Polek-Davis is an Italian, Polish, and Kenyan contemporary oil painter based in Southern California and paints psychological feminine art through intuitive connection and masterful craft. Her work symbolizes a celebration of women through the exploration of color and form. Join us as we learn a bit about her story.
Event Postponed Due to COVID
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A spiritual artist that develops art purely from Flow and Energy.
After waking up in the early morning and grabbing her favorite white mug of matcha green tea, Riley walks to the corner of her bedroom, gently turns the music on, and sets up a fresh white canvas on a wooden easel.
As she paints, you can’t help but notice her intense focus on every detail. Her eyes seem to blink once every hour. You can throw a rock at her, she’ll feel nothing. She is in the flow.
You know you walk into a true artist's bedroom when half of their room is an art studio. The differences between the two sections of her bedroom are impressively contradictory in a beautiful way. The art studio section of her room has several canvases scattered, vibrant paint strokes streaked along the floor and walls, and art supplies bundled in a tool kit. However, in the bedroom section of her room you can see it is well designed, clean, and meticulously organized.
As I watched Riley paint on the massive seven foot canvas I was curious to know how much her paintings sell for. She told me humbly, “My small and medium sized paintings are sold for an affordable price. But amazingly, my large sized (7 ft.+) canvases are purchased from anywhere around $10,000 - $20,000.”
As of today, Riley has been in several known galleries such as Radiant Space, KGB Gallery, Uzumaki Gallery, and others. Additionally, she has been invited and paid to paint at festivals such as Desert Hearts, Lightning in a Bottle, Oregon Eclipse, Lucidity, and a plethora of underground events in Los Angeles.
Riley A. Polek-Davis is an Italian, Polish, and Kenyan artist based in Oxnard, CA and paints psychedelic feminine art. In Riley’s words, her art is “magical, trippy, sensual, and an expression of the female form through color and movement.” However, after speaking with her and understanding her story, it’s even deeper.
Seconds after meeting Riley, you feel like you have known her for years. She has a warm and welcoming vibrance ensuring you are comfortable in her presence. After giving me a tour of her beautiful craftsman home in Oxnard and introducing me to her housemates, I was quick to realize how genuinely good-hearted she is. Riley loves her home, her housemates, and most importantly herself (and not in a Kanye West type of way).
As an artist who is surviving off their art and attending grad school to receive her MFA (Master of Fine Arts), it is easy to believe when she says “art is my life.” However, her lifestyle is not what her Instagram fans may think. It’s much more of a grind. Prior to COVID, Riley was an art teacher, festival painter, grad student, and of course an artist. However, now that COVID has affected her jobs as an art teacher and festival painter, she is now putting her complete focus into grad school and her passion for creating art as a career.
To give you a perspective of competitiveness in receiving an MFA, only twenty students were accepted into her class. Attending grad school has been her most eye opening experience as an artist since she is constantly challenged by professors and classmates to think in a foreign way.
While Riley is adapting her new knowledge of philosophy and technique into her art, she is passionate that her meaning as an artist will remain true to her story and message to the world.
As a young girl, Riley was raised by two inspiring and powerful women. Throughout her life, her mothers have been supportive and extremely loving towards her growth as a person and artist. Because of this, Riley looks at women with a beautiful perspective. She sees love, nurture, sympathy, passion, beauty, and intelligence. Each one of these characteristics is what Riley embodies as an artist and human.
After watching and comprehending Riley’s process in creating art, I immediately understood why her paintings are so beautiful and breathtaking. If you ask Riley about her creative process, she simply and proudly says, “Flow.” After hearing this one word answer to such an intricate subject, I was shook. However, after she broke it down, I see it to be the perfect answer.
To understand her process, it is important to know the type of person Riley is. After spending a day with her and getting into several lengthy conversations, I genuinely believe she is endowed with a deeper level of creative energy, spiritual, and psychological understanding.
The way Riley chooses her subjects and envisions the final concept is fascinating and impressive.
Riley spontaneously finds her art models throughout her daily life of traveling, school, friends, gatherings, events, festivals, etc. Though physical appearance is a gravitational pull in choosing her subject, the energy and psyche is the determining factor.
After conversing with the model, Riley can intuitively determine if she is her next subject or not. Once her subject is confirmed, Riley invites her to the studio to conduct a simple photoshoot with the help of her team.
So how does Riley think of all of the colors, trippy visuals, and other concepts that compliment her female subject on the canvas? Simply by Flow and Energy. Riley consumes and retains the energy from her initial conversation and photoshoot with the model as they become spiritually closer. Riley states she immediately receives ideas for the colors and trippy visuals based on the model’s aura. After taking notes, she takes into deep consideration and begins immediately on the canvas the next morning when her brain is at its peak.
Impressively, Riley doesn’t use a template or any sort of sketching preparation. She simply goes by Flow. Each and every morning throughout her focused art piece, she reminisces on her conversation and photoshoot with the model and incorporates that energy as she paints. It’s a beautiful process.
Though it is a dream and fulfilling lifestyle for Riley, there are some stresses that come along with being an artist who is surviving off of their talent as an artist. For Riley to succeed, she has to constantly network, improve as an artist, paint several canvases, sell her artwork, manage her social media, and on top of that - receive her MFA.
Hardworking is a quality that Riley has mastered. She knows what it takes to get to where she wants to be; and her work ethic is proving her constant improvement. To put it into perspective, Riley started painting at the age of 22. She is now 28 years old. Once her heart discovered the passion, she became obsessed and her life became art.
Although Riley is great at managing a mountain of stress, she does have techniques for difficult times. When life and work gets tough for Riley, she immediately goes to her favorite nature spots such as the beach, lake, desert, park, or a hiking trail. Relaxing and venturing in these environments provides a rush of refreshment cleansing her mind and body.
If Riley could give advice to anyone out there who is beginning to pursue their dream as an artist, she strongly believes in putting yourself out there and having the drive to truly hustle. You should embrace yourself as an artist and get your work out there. Get out to events, reach out to people, and make connections because that’s a big part of the game. And of course, if you have the determination and really understand good work ethic, you’ll have much more success. “Follow your heart and listen to it.” - Riley Polek Davis
Written by Kai Matsukuma
