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Melanie Miller makes paintings which follow a classic tradition of still life and are inspired by her immediate environment. The local objects and flora are represented in a forensic manner leaving the viewer to unpick their own poetic connections and narratives.

 

Through a laborious process of building up layers of oil paint on traditional gesso boards which she prepares herself, Miller creates the complex ambiguous dark grounds on which her delicate still-life paintings evolve. The objects are usually painted life-size, quotidian subjects are chosen with a degree of spontaneity, they are seasonal or abundant, and they are also chosen for their elementary appeal. 

 

By focusing attention on ephemeral and familiar objects, looking at and enshrining the unremarkable and disregarded, the interest is in the present rather than the prestigious and aims to explore the beauty and history of the overlooked. 

 

In a new venture, Miller has made installations inside small boxes using collaged elements with found and cast objects from the natural world. Viewers can illuminate them from above with their mobile phones allowing unique views of mysterious worlds.

Curriculum Vitae
 

Education:

Maidstone College of Art B.A hons Fine Art.

Wimbledon School of Art M.A in Painting.

Solo Exhibitions:

2020-21 “Finite Things” Long and Ryle

2020 “Solace 2020’ (selection of work made during lockdown) April 20 Long and Ryle

2020 Landscape Unstilled lIfe . Darlby and the Bear Woodstock Oxfordshire

2018-2019 “The Form Of Things Unknown” Le Salon Vert Geneva Switzerland

2014 “Natural History” Long and Ryle.London

2011 “Close: Still” Millenium St Ives 

2010 ”Moth Boy and Bees” Long and Ryle. 

2009 “Small Truths” Millennium St Ives

2008 “Particular” Hilton Young Penzance

Gallery Artists Vertigo Gallery . London

Inanimate . Chapel Gallery Penzance

Selected recent exhibitions include:

2002-13 2015-22 Royal Academy of arts Summer exhibition 

2021 “Model Maquette” The Cello Factory Southwark. London

2020 Landscape Unstilled lIfe . Darlby and the Bear Woodstock Oxfordshire

2020 ‘The Seventh View” C24 gallery New York

Wells Art Contemporary. Wells Cathedral Somerset.

2002-2016 2017, 2019 ‘The Discerning Eye’ Mall galleries, London

2009-13 2015-17 “Columbia Threadneedle Prize” (Shortlisted 2009)

Gallery Artists Vertigo Gallery . London

Inanimate . Chapel Gallery Penzance

Exhibitions curated:

2018 “Seen Unseen” an exhibition with five painters and a poet. Alice Oswald , Juliette Losq, Sue Williams

A’court, Anna Gardiner, Louise McClary, Melanie Miller

Long and Ryle London June to September 2018

Forthcoming Exhibitions :

Shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize 

Exhibition Huddersfield Art Galery 23rd September 2023

‘New;Unknown’ Long and Ryle October 11th- November 1st 2023

Art Fairs

Art Miami

London Art Fair

International Print Fair

20/21 art Fair

BADA

Residencies : 

2019 KIRA: Kingsbrae International residency for the Arts Canada

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