Reprinted from the Oct. 21 Sunday Gazette-Mail

Artist David Riffle’s work has more of an in-town look these days than when he was constantly playing off the Poca River trailer he used to call home.

Still, admirers of the artist’s work will instantly recognize Riffle’s quirky gift when they see his latest exhibit, which is on display at The Art Store, 1013 Bridge Road, for a run through Nov. 3.

The featured work would seem to be the 50- by 75-inch mixed-media, three-dimensional painting “Camden Park,” a portrait in blues and grays of the park’s ancient roller coaster.

“We took Nora to Camden Park a few years ago,” said Riffle of his daughter. “I hadn’t been down there since I was a kid. It’s still the same.”

Another highlight is “Sculpture Proposal, Arlington Court,” a fanciful look at what might be — but isn’t likely to occur — in the East End neighborhood Riffle calls home. It too is a study in earth tones: again mostly blues and grays as Riffle makes a two-story houselike structure rise in the walkway between facing row houses.

“I’m still working with my surroundings,” Riffle said. “My idea is not to do any big changes, but to make little changes, subtle changes.”

Riffle has made two paintings of “Sculptural Proposal, Arlington Court.” He has made a big “Camden Park” and a small one. “I did the little piece first,” Riffle said. “I try to do that to make sure I’ll be able to do the big one. It’s sort of a model or mock-up.”

“Riffle is the most imaginative vernacular artist that I personally know, and yet his world is sometimes wickedly whimsical,” former Clay Center curator Ric Ambrose said. “While everyone immediately identifies him as a great regional, i.e. Appalachian, artist, he does transcend that sense of place. Only David can craft David’s world.”

“Riffle is one of a kind,” said Ellie Schaul, The Art Store’s gallery director. “His art is personal, it’s funky, it’s sophisticated, it’s humorous, it’s sad, it’s joyous.”

One piece in the current show is his mother-in-law’s house, in which, in classic Riffle style, his mother-in-law can be seen standing inside the house behind a window pane. Another is “Quarrier Diner,” with a picture of wife Molly Erlandson and 8-year-old daughter Nora on the front of the newspaper box beside the restaurant.

“Bank robbers on the loose,” Riffle deadpans.

Look at the details, said Art Store owner Sherry Lovett. “Look inside each of these windows and you see the people inside and the art and photos on the interior walls.”

There isn’t a piece that’s not three-dimensional, Lovett said. Look closely, and even the flattest of paintings have something projecting out. Sometimes it’s just a wire.

“There’s a repeated use of found objects,” Lovett said. “David’s just picked up this wire somewhere. He knows he’ll use it and he knows he has it.”

In 1994, the Huntington Museum of Art’s Exhibition 280 regional juried show had a Riffle painting on the exhibit catalog’s cover. But the show’s jurors gave top honors to three other artists. The Huntington Museum is still without a Riffle work.

The story is telling: At 60, Riffle is still knocking on the door of the establishment art world, which finds his work fascinating but hasn’t quite accepted him. The Clay Center, which put on a huge Riffle retrospective in 2005, has four of his works, but no other museum has one.

To contact staff writer Bob Schwarz, use e-mail or call 348-1249.