In his latest series, “It’s only rock ’n’ roll ... but I like it,” Riley homes in on the heroism of rock through his vigorous style, a style he’s been perfecting in his wildlife art and as a technique overall.

“I was an illustrator for 10 or 15 years and it still shows up in my work,” he said. “But this technique lends itself to the musicians and their stories, to that kind of lifestyle and being extroverted.”

Riley creates his layered portraits first as drawings that are then overlayed with oil paints. Then he uses mineral spirits to distress the canvas. The drops and splatters from the mineral spirits land in the wet paint, essentially eating at the original painting — an apropos approach for his larger-than-life subjects.

“We love seeing how new subjects also lead to the artist experimenting with new techniques, from the unique brush strokes to bold uses of color,” said Isabel McDowall, fine art consultant at Altamira Gallery. “It is fun for the gallery and his admirers when we see the artist is also enjoying what he’s doing,”

And Riley did enjoy what he was doing. In fact, the artist sounds as if he was wholly compelled to spend as much time as he could with his favorite icons, listening to their music while capturing their likeness on the canvas.

“I was giving a course lecture,” Riley said, “and had found one of my sketchbooks from about 1992. It was full of these pop and athletic icons from my youth — Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Jim Morrison — and that’s what got me thinking about the series.”

The Utah painter started and completed all of the works in the series this past fall.

“I felt no pressure,” he said. “The whole thing was just a good time to create. But, yes, they are hot off the press.”

More than just portraits, Riley’s renderings coupled with his erosion technique capture the unique presence of each musician: the stare of Jim Morrison or the new wave mixology of Debbie Harry.

“I try to present the thing about them that transcends their likeness,” he said.

When Riley has described his work previously, he has said that a lot of it centers on trying to balance opposing forces.

“Traditional subject matter presented in a modern way,” he said. “Offsetting realistic handling of form with big, loose blocks of values and shapes. Balancing realism with abstraction.”

That aesthetic comes to full fruition in these rock ’n’ rollers. Riley has interpreted their music with his technique as the conduit, using looser brush strokes, more paint splatters, and including visual cues that relate to the song or the artist.

Jerry Garcia peers out at the viewer from behind rainbow-hued glasses, while Bob Dylan’s jacket, abstracted as bold diagonals, suggests the poetic slashes of his lyrics. And Slash is as indignant as ever in his fading poetic manner.

No need to wait for the Dec. 17 art walk — Riley’s art is already hanging in the Center Street gallery. Take a coffee break and stare eye-to-eye with Jim Morrison as soon as you can. It’s rock ’n’ roll, and you will definitely like it.