Print
E-mail
Comment
Animal art of Melissa Miller at Art League Houston
 |
| “Cluster” an oil-on-canvas painting by animal artist Melissa Miller. Miller’s work is on display through Oct. 10 at Art League Houston. |
By Virginia Billeaud Anderson
Those of us who are of the Metamucil generation easily recall the early 60s television star, Mr. Ed. It was enchanting to watch that beautiful palomino move his lips and speak, deep voice TV style, to his owner Wilbur.
The sight of a talking horse would predictably send young imaginations soaring, but for Melissa Miller, it fueled contemplative yearning. Why not talking animals? If not speech what might their potential be? She longed to know their entire truth.
Miller became an artist whose 35-year career has focused on animals.
Through painting, drawing and print art, she captures their beauty, explores their psychological and emotional complexity, and uses them to speak symbolically about human nature.
Her thorough investigation of subject, approaching it scientifically, emotionally and intuitively, makes her one of the most interesting artists working today. The animal-based artwork of Melissa Miller can be seen at Art League Houston through Oct. 10.
Animals are visually striking and some of Miller’s art is primarily an exercise in mirroring their beauty.
Her replication of natural motifs is masterful. Critics noting adept handling of feathers and fur compare her to Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Rosa Bonheur.
Other works portray her subjects’ personality and psychology. Miller studied the work of noted animal painter Edwin Landseer to deploy “dignity, integrity, and insight into their psychology,” she states.
“I believe that animals have complex emotional depth. Many scientific studies point to this,” she said.
Temple Grandin’s “Animals in Translation” is one of her sources.
You can see Miller penetrate her animals’ mental state in the large oil “Red Pony.” Here the mama horse is imbued with maternal patience while the background dog is a rascal who irritates the llama. We might be tempted to go further and assign nosiness to the staring cow and worthlessness to the lazy goat. But beware of projecting your psychic garbage onto animals.
Some of the most enigmatic works are those that serve as metaphors for the humans state. “Ablaze,” a printed rendering of a panther on its hind legs fighting flames that morph into demons, ghouls and goons, is violent and unsettling. Dramatic brushstrokes and garish colors intensify its flavor of dread. This disturbing narrative clearly alludes to human fear.
“Miller makes us understand,” wrote Art historian and critic Susie Kalil, “that the truth of human existence resides not only in grace and beauty, but also in the fissures and cracks; in wildness and chaos as well as order and reason. She digs deeply into the strata of the personal, tragic, comic, humdrum, violent, tender and vital – drawing on images that touch into both her personal history and the history of art.”
As Kalil noted, Miller’s work has art historical precedents. A direct source of animals as allegory for human “stuff” is the Japanese art form “Choju giga.” Translating to “frolicking animals,” these visual satires unveil animals in human soap operas. Abundant inspiration comes from European artists. Think of Rousseau’s jungle perched animal gangs, the twisted bodies of Delacroix’s beasts, Soutine’s gestural violence. These are only a few. Miller’s artwork is a pictorial genuflection to art history.
Some paintings are commentary on human encroachment. The grouping of bear, monkeys and cows in “Cluster” addresses the fact that we remove animals from their natural habitat. Its monkeys’ expressions are cynical and pissed off, the cows seem zonked out and the bear does a pathetic circus trick. Miller stated she purposely delineated “the boredom of displacement and lack of natural activity that might result from such a removal.” She further sniffs at human disrespect in “Heron,” a gouache in which automobile tires trash up the bird’ world. With the planet shrinking, a “new global reality” is reflected in her art.
Miller has been written about a gazillion times: Art News, New York Magazine, New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, Vanity Fair, the Washington Post. Stacked atop commercial acclaim, Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale and major museum exposure, as well as her teaching position at the University of Texas, Art League Houston just selected Miller as its 2008 Texas Artist of the Year.
Melissa Miller show
The animal-based artwork of Melissa Miller can be seen at Art League Houston through Oct. 10.
The sight of a talking horse would predictably send young imaginations soaring, but for Melissa Miller, it fueled contemplative yearning. Why not talking animals? If not speech what might their potential be? She longed to know their entire truth.
Miller became an artist whose 35-year career has focused on animals.
Through painting, drawing and print art, she captures their beauty, explores their psychological and emotional complexity, and uses them to speak symbolically about human nature.
Her thorough investigation of subject, approaching it scientifically, emotionally and intuitively, makes her one of the most interesting artists working today. The animal-based artwork of Melissa Miller can be seen at Art League Houston through Oct. 10.
Animals are visually striking and some of Miller’s art is primarily an exercise in mirroring their beauty.
Her replication of natural motifs is masterful. Critics noting adept handling of feathers and fur compare her to Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Rosa Bonheur.
Other works portray her subjects’ personality and psychology. Miller studied the work of noted animal painter Edwin Landseer to deploy “dignity, integrity, and insight into their psychology,” she states.
“I believe that animals have complex emotional depth. Many scientific studies point to this,” she said.
Temple Grandin’s “Animals in Translation” is one of her sources.
You can see Miller penetrate her animals’ mental state in the large oil “Red Pony.” Here the mama horse is imbued with maternal patience while the background dog is a rascal who irritates the llama. We might be tempted to go further and assign nosiness to the staring cow and worthlessness to the lazy goat. But beware of projecting your psychic garbage onto animals.
Some of the most enigmatic works are those that serve as metaphors for the humans state. “Ablaze,” a printed rendering of a panther on its hind legs fighting flames that morph into demons, ghouls and goons, is violent and unsettling. Dramatic brushstrokes and garish colors intensify its flavor of dread. This disturbing narrative clearly alludes to human fear.
“Miller makes us understand,” wrote Art historian and critic Susie Kalil, “that the truth of human existence resides not only in grace and beauty, but also in the fissures and cracks; in wildness and chaos as well as order and reason. She digs deeply into the strata of the personal, tragic, comic, humdrum, violent, tender and vital – drawing on images that touch into both her personal history and the history of art.”
As Kalil noted, Miller’s work has art historical precedents. A direct source of animals as allegory for human “stuff” is the Japanese art form “Choju giga.” Translating to “frolicking animals,” these visual satires unveil animals in human soap operas. Abundant inspiration comes from European artists. Think of Rousseau’s jungle perched animal gangs, the twisted bodies of Delacroix’s beasts, Soutine’s gestural violence. These are only a few. Miller’s artwork is a pictorial genuflection to art history.
Some paintings are commentary on human encroachment. The grouping of bear, monkeys and cows in “Cluster” addresses the fact that we remove animals from their natural habitat. Its monkeys’ expressions are cynical and pissed off, the cows seem zonked out and the bear does a pathetic circus trick. Miller stated she purposely delineated “the boredom of displacement and lack of natural activity that might result from such a removal.” She further sniffs at human disrespect in “Heron,” a gouache in which automobile tires trash up the bird’ world. With the planet shrinking, a “new global reality” is reflected in her art.
Miller has been written about a gazillion times: Art News, New York Magazine, New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, Vanity Fair, the Washington Post. Stacked atop commercial acclaim, Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale and major museum exposure, as well as her teaching position at the University of Texas, Art League Houston just selected Miller as its 2008 Texas Artist of the Year.
Melissa Miller show
The animal-based artwork of Melissa Miller can be seen at Art League Houston through Oct. 10.
Submit a Comment
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.
|
Not yet a registered member?
Click here to become one. Comments to stories and articles on the Web site are not edited or pre-approved before appearing online. Readers posting comments are solely responsible for those comments. Comments must be germane to the story to which they apply. Online comments that are libelous, profane or personally attack another site participant can be reported as abuse using the link provided on each comment. Comments reported as abusive will be reviewed and may be removed from view, as will off-topic comments. BE CIVIL. Individuals continually posting abusive comments to the site may have their registrations revoked. |
