Phantom / Zachariah Riley
Grimsby-born artist Zachariah Riley (b.1996) reworks discarded advertising posters for blockbuster films, painting over them until their glossy images are ruptured. What remains are ghostly abstractions — abandoned images within abandoned spaces. Phantom asks what happens when yesterday’s cultural spectacle is stripped of its shine and left as residue. Currently based in London, Riley is part of the Royal Academy of Art’s postgraduate program, developing a practice that looks at waste as a site of reinterpretation.