Through layering and accumulation, this series of collaged panels explores how photography can expand ideas of masculinity. Rather than treating photographs as finished, stable images, I build onto them, allowing each piece to evolve over time. This process reflects my belief that masculinity is shaped by experience, relationships, and desire rather than fixed heteronormative ideals of what “men should be”. The photographs are created in collaboration with people I’ve met, whose conversations and experiences inform the work and offer perspectives on forms of masculine expression and identity. By bringing photography into conversation with sculptural materials, these works emphasize the photograph as both image and object, inviting viewers to consider masculinity as something continually constructed—much like the works themselves.
Weathered Telephone Pole, Jared (2026)
Wood Panel, Risograph Prints, Acrylic Gloss Medium, Dye, and Stapes
4' x 4'
The Model Profile series began as a way to explore the relationship between artist and model and how those connections shape the process of making. For a long time, I resisted centering these relationships within the work, feeling that they were not as important to the final artworks created from the photographs. Through further reflection, I realized that overlooking these connections ignored the significance of the relationships themselves and the ways they influence the direction of the work. The photographs are not created in isolation; they emerge through shared conversations, trust, and collaboration with the people who choose to participate. Their experiences and perspectives become an essential part of shaping the vision and story behind all of my works.
Model Profile: Shawn (2026)
Wood Panel, Dye, Risographs on Red Paper, Typewritten Profile
2' x 2'
The Risograph Collage series began as a way to repurpose sample prints, but evolved into an exploration of the photograph as a constantly changing entity. Through a process of printing, altering, reconstructing, rephotographing, and reprinting, the images develop new layers of texture and noise. The materials and process of exploration here allows the photographs of a single model to be transformed and reimagined beyond their original context, creating new visual narratives through accumulation and reconstruction.
Copyright © 2026 Riley Rist - All Rights Reserved.
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