Monday to Saturday 10AM to 6PM
|
PAST EXHIBITION
Greg Miller: New Acquisitions
July 1, 2008—July 31, 2008
Press Release
In his large-scale mixed-media collages, California artist Greg Miller vividly portrays the essence of an American golden age, creating scenes that resonate powerfully with our collective nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s. Combining fragments of text, come-hither pin-up girls, flashes of Western landscape, and vintage signage, he recreates an entire cultural moment, conjuring images of an eternal summer filled with lazy days by motel pools, long drives down Route 66, and all manner of roadside adventure.
While tapping in to a uniquely American vision mythologized by literature and especially by film, Miller’s work also recalls the work of ‘60s pop artists like James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, and Mel Ramos in its appropriation of mass-culture images for artistic ends. As Rauschenberg did in his mixed-media canvases, Miller skillfully juxtaposes disparate cultural artifacts to achieve a concentrated, carefully calibrated mood—in Miller’s case, a combination of heavenly mid-century optimism, youthful excitement in the face of the unknown (his images often evoke spontaneous travel, the freedom and uncertainty of the road), and, overlaying them both, a wistful longing for a vanished past.
The form of Miller’s work is inseparable from its content: He achieves his seductive surfaces through the use of surfboard resin, a clear nod to mid-century beach culture. At the same time, the resin references the process of fossilization, preserving lost moments like insects in amber. While it may be impossible to freeze time, Miller’s work shows it is possible to capture its essence in art, where we may relive the collective memories we most cherish.
|
|
Visit Gallery 
|
|
|
