Justin Henry Miller: Hustle and Glo

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J UST I N H E N RY M IL L E R Hustle and Glo

bruno david gallery

JUSTIN HENRY MILLER Hustle and Glo

August 31 - September 29, 2018 Bruno David Gallery 7513 Forsyth Boulevard Saint Louis, Missouri 63105, U.S.A. info@brunodavidgallery.com www.brunodavidgallery.com Owner/Director: Bruno L. David This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition “Hustle and Glo” at Bruno David Gallery.

Editor: Bruno L. David Catalogue Designer: Christina Lu and Lauren Rose Mann Designer Assistant: Claudia R. David Printed in USA All works courtesy of Justin Henry Miller and Bruno David Gallery Photographs by Justin Henry Miller studio and Bruno David Gallery Cover image: She’s Full of Surprises, 2018 Acrylic with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm) First Edition Copyright © 2018 Bruno David Gallery All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of Bruno David Gallery

CONTENTS INTERVIEW OF JUSTIN HENRY MILLER

BY EMILY DENLINGER AFTERWORD

BY BRUNO L. DAVID

CHECKLIST AND IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION BIOGRAPHY

INTERVIEW OF JUSTIN HENRY MILLER

BY EMILY DENLINGER

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The art in “Hustle and Glo” references the mental layering that occurs as we experience, process, and recall images we encounter throughout our lives. Like many artists, your imagery in previous work has had a strong connection back to your childhood experiences. Is the subject matter in these paintings linked to childhood memories or why did this imagery emerge for the work in this exhibit?

Miller: The images in this body of work are derived from a multitude of references and influences. Some come from personal narratives and nostalgia, while others are more universal themes depicted through my filter. In many instances individual pieces are home to multiple interpretations of a single concept. For instance, in the piece “Skullz”, I have presented two distinct renditions of skulls trying to emerge. One skull is rectilinear, complex, and represents a certain degree of refinement. Meanwhile, an underlying red skull is loose, spontaneous and in many ways in opposition to the rest of the composition. This skull looks much like one you might find in the margins of a high school notebook, paying homage to the free doodling days of my youth and adolescence. For me those early incarnations of images are part of my visual dialogue and just as important as the layers that represent a more “mature” approach.

There has always been a fascination with the body and memory in your art. Previously you realistically depicted biomorphic creatures based on your interpretation of growing up on a horse farm and imaging it hundreds of years into the future. With the work in “Hustle and Glo” you are reflecting on more internal themes surrounding memory and how our brains layer and blend images together during the process of recall. What about the theme of memories are you most attracted to?

Miller: I am interested in how our brains function like unique mental rolodexes. When presented with a concept our minds rely on previous images and experiences to form a mental image. For every human this experience is different and as we age and experience more our recollections become more layered. I have become increasingly interested in how the massive inundation of technology and accessibility to images has affected our cognition. In the first half of my life I was limited to the illustrations and photographs I might see in a book or images on television. Now I can Google any word and be presented with seemingly an endless number of representations. I like to think of the pieces in this show as capturing a moment when the mind is trying to cypher and form that unique interpretation of an image.

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I have watched your art for the past 7 years and it is interesting to see the range of materials you have worked with while staying within similar themes. Your work is always deeply layered technically and conceptually. Your oil paintings involve a very complex and time-consuming glazing technique. In some of your newer oil paintings you have gone in and layered graphic elements like graffiti tags on the characters. Your highly detailed paintings on vintage photographs manipulate the narrative with the addition of creatures and sci-fi elements. Your newest work, the acrylic and phosphorescent polymer paintings in “Hustle and Glo,” are meticulously crafted using a reductive technique involving many layers of specialty tape that are removed when you complete a piece. You consistently choose extremely intricate processes. How important is process to you?

Miller: No matter what material I am using, I find myself preferring work with a high level of resolve and details. I like making work that at first glance has the appearance of being digitally produced. I feel like this aesthetic is fitting for someone of my generation (“Generation X”), as our lives straddle the pre and post tech boom. For this series of works I relied heavily on a vinyl automotive tape. In many ways the use of this material is another homage to my teenage years.

When I was 17, I spent the summer working for a automotive garage where I was tasked with the “creative jobs”, like pin striping and painting flames on the sides of motorcycle gas tanks. This is where I was first introduced to this high adhesive tape. I find a certain satisfaction in taking a very blue-color/industrial product that you purchase from a hardware store and crafting fine art with it.

The paintings in “Hustle and Glo” may seem significantly different from your past works. They are more geometric than the organic depictions in your oil paintings. However, when viewed together I am struck by the similarities of subjects, color pallets, and patterns you frequently return to that create a structure for your entire body of work. You had a period where you were creating geometric patterns in the backgrounds of the oil paintings and these patterns are present in the new work. In your oil painting “Steed” the blue flames painted on the side of the creature seem to harken back to your memories of working with the car detailing tape in your youth. The same tape that played a major role in the creation of the work in this exhibit. How important is it to you that the work relates back to itself?

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Miller: The work that comprises the “Hustle and Glo” exhibition is a conscious departure from the approaches to earlier work with regards to technique. I think this was in large part due to the content and more accompanying graphic style I wanted to immerse myself in. My past works relied almost exclusively on oil paint and exploiting the medium’s ability to render illusionary volume. Where as in the past there were some accompanying graphic elements, the work in this show is fully immersed in a more posterized aesthetic. Despite the technical and visual disparities, I do think there are some similarities amongst the work. All of my work shares a certain level of whim. This can be attributed to a combination of candy land palettes and cartoonish characters. Even when substantial evolutions occur in the work, I feel there will always be connections across all of my series.

How important is experimentation in your work?

Miller: I think experimentation is essential to my studio practice. At times the transitions can come slow, but no matter what I am working on I try to push it somewhere outside my comfort zone. This can be frustrating at times, but I have found that risk taking almost always leads to the most exciting developments in my artwork. There are definitely days where the studio feels like work, but I am letting myself experiment keeps me excited and keeps me coming back.

In early 2017 you were experimenting with pared down primitive folk art like sculptural figures. That Fall you spent time looking at a lot of abstract paintings. At the end of the year you rediscovered an abstract geometric painting of your own, created several years ago. What did that discovery mean for you? All of those steps seem to have led you to create this body of work, is it an instance of all the right elements lining up at the right time?

Miller: I think a lot of times artists make something coming off a large solo show at the end of 2016 and So, I started making these geometric wood figures. would emerge in the paintings that would ultimately

and they’re not sure why. That was certainly the case for me. I was I just felt like I needed to mix things up and explore other avenues.

Little did I know that some of the same aesthetics embedded in them make up the Hustle and Glo show.

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You have created several artworks in the past year that directly referenced or name Picasso in the title. How is cubism influencing the paintings in “Hustle and Glo” and who else are you looking at right now?

Miller: I owe a lot to other artists, both my former mentors and my art heroes. Picasso is certainly an artist I have had a long running infatuation with. His utilization of cubism broke the rules of what a two-dimensional image was supposed to be capable of presenting. His cubist works show multiple facets that you should otherwise be unable to see. I think there are some similarities in my work through the presentation of multiple image layers in one piece as well as the more angled/geometric aesthetic. In the piece “Bullseye” I imbed a bull very similar to the one he rendered in is famous work ‘Guernica’. In “She Wanted A Unicorn, I Wanted A Picasso” I appropriate his interpretation of a horse head. By doing this I am both paying homage to Picasso and recontextualizing his images through the filter of 2018. I think it is also important to note the impact the work of Takashi Murakami has had on my work. In the summer of 2017 I saw his midcareer retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The firsthand experience of his ‘Super Flat’ works definitely made an impression and helped encourage me to pursue the more graphic approach seen in this body of work.

What is the next step in this series of images? How do you see your art evolving in the future? Do you have any dream projects you would like to tackle in the long term?

Miller: I feel there are still explorations to be made with this series. I want to keep evolving the work. I think part of that evolution includes trying to merge some of the oil painting approaches of earlier works with the more graphic techniques of the current work. The paintings are already layered, so why not see if I can further layer techniques and mediums. I would also like to get back to some printmaking techniques. I feel like this series of works share so many similarities to print aesthetics and there is potential to expand through these approaches. At the end of the day it is about spending quality time in the studio and giving the work an opportunity to further develop.

Emily Denlinger is a writer and the Area Head/Associate Professor of Digital Art at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

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AFTERWORD

BY BRUNO L. DAVID

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I am pleased to present a new exhibition of recent works on paper titled “Hustle and Glo” by Justin Henry Miller at the Bruno David Gallery. This is his first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Justin Henry Miller’s work emerges from an interest in our inundation of images and the mental layering that occurs as we experience, process, and recall. As we age, we experience more, and our cognitive webs grow denser. The elements that compose Miller’s paintings are coalescing fragments that teeter between cooperation and individualism. In some instances, the interweaving layers come together to provide a greater clarity, while in others they convolute. Still in some pieces, unique moments ultimately prevail.

In the series of works that comprise the Hustle and Glo exhibition, Miller follows a series of protocols when composing these images. The paintings are created reductively, using the white of the paper to serve as the initial or ‘key’ layer. A layer of color is then applied, and another layer of linear imagery is masked out. This process is repeated through multiple color layers until finally the masked areas are removed back down to the white of the original surface. The result is an ancestral armature emerging from the relational forms grafted on top.

Justin Henry Miller was born in Arcola, Illinois (1980). He lives and works in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He received his MFA from the University of Notre Dame (2006), his BA (2002) and his MA (2003), both from Eastern Illinois University. Miller has exhibited his artwork in numerous exhibitions across the nation and abroad. He is currently an Associate Professor and Area Head of Painting at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Support for the creation of significant new works of art has been the core to the mission and program of the Bruno David Gallery since its founding in 2005. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Emily Denlinger for her interview. I am deeply grateful to Christina Lu and Lauren R. Mann, who gave much time, talent, and expertise to the production of this catalogue. Invaluable gallery staff support for the exhibition was provided by Cleo Azariadis, Christina Lu, Haleigh Givens, Peter Finley, Lauren R. Mann, Jin Xia, and Thomas Fruhauf.

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CHECKLIST & IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION

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So Jelly (Glow in the Dark) 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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So Jelly 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Shaman Skull 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Skullz 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Day Garden 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Day Garden (Glow in the Dark) 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Night Garden (Glow in the Dark) 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Night Garden 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Rooster Robin 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Night Moves 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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She’s Full of Surprises 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Dude 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Reservation Under Construction 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Poseidon 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Mars 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Bullseye 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Untitled 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Untitled 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Swede Scout 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Untitled 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Norway, I Mean No Way! 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Norway, I Mean No Way! (Glow in the Dark) 2018 Acrylics, aerosol, and phosphorescent polymer on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Primary 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Rated X 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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She Wanted A Unicorn, I Wanted A Picasso 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Toucan Tower 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Wildfire (Glow in the Dark) 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Wildfire 2018 Acrylics with aerosol on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88 cm)

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Justin Henry Miller: Hustle and Glo (installation view)

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Justin Henry Miller: Hustle and Glo (installation view)

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Justin Henry Miller: Hustle and Glo (installation view)

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Justin Henry Miller: Hustle and Glo (installation view)

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JUSTIN HENRY MILLER Born in Arcola, Illinois (1980) Lives and works in Cape Girardeau, Missouri

EDUCATION 2006 2003 2002

M.F.A. University of Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, IN M.A. Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL B.A. Art Education, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL

SOLO and GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2018

Bruno David Gallery, “Hustle and Glo,” St. Louis, MO, August 31-September 29 (catalogue)

2016

The Fallout Kingdom, New Paintings by Justin Henry Miller, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Dark Wonders: Michael Baird & Justin Henry Miller, Arts Council of SE MO, Cape Girardeau, MO Strange Dayz: Justin Henry Miller & Scott Ziegler, Indiana University, South Bend, IN Level-Up, Edwardsville Arts Center, Ewardsville, IL Winter Group Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Creatures, Art St. Louis Gallery, St. Louis, MO 12” x 12”: A National Exhibit of Small Works of Art, Todd Art Gallery, Middle TN State Univ., Murfreesboro, TN Inhabitants: Creatures of Imagined Worlds, Slocumb Galleries, E. TN State Univ., Johnson City, TN Face Off, Heritage Hall, Cape Girardeau, MO Subliminal: Hidden Messages, National Juried Exhibition. Arts Council of SE MO, Cape Girardeau, MO.

2015

With Love From The No Coast, 1975 Gallery, Buffalo, NY Rosenzweig Annual Juried Exhibition, The Arts & Science Center for SE Arkansas, Pine Bluff, AR Summer Stock, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Mapping the Mississippi, Themed Portfolio, Art Market Gallery, Southern Graphics Council Int’l Conference, Knoxville, TN

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2015 Monumental Ideas/ Intimate Scale: A National Juried Exhibition, River Campus Art Gallery, Southeast Missouri State University,

Cape Girardeau, MO

Cyber Rituals, Print Exchange and Exhibition, University of North Carolina, Pembroke

Rock Paper Scissors, Traveling Faculty Exhibition, University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN

2014

Zg Winter Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Biological Canvas, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN Fantastical: Art Of The Imagination, St. Charles Community College, St. Charles, MO Rock Paper Scissors, Manhattan Art Center, Manhattan, KS Rock Paper Scissors. Lincoln Art Center, Lincoln, KS Regional Juried Exhibition, Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau, MO Summer Group Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Regional Juried Exhibition, St. Charles Community College, St. Charles, MO Regional Educators Exhibition, Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau, MO

2013 Justin Henry Miller, Forgotten Future, solo show, Arts Council of Southeastern MO, Cap Girardeau, MOBrilliant Optics, Fort Wayne Museum of

Art, Fort Wayne, IN

Brewskies, Wunderkammer Company, Fort Wayne, IN

Summer Group Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL

Members Show, Artlink Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN

69th Annual Juried Show, SWOPE Museum of Art, Terre Haute, IN

Zg Gallery Spring Group Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL

2012

Justin Henry Miller: Beyond the Afterglow, Tarble Art Center, Eastern IL Univ., Charleston, IL 68th Annual Juried Show, SWOPE Museum of Art, Terre Haute, IN Fort Wayne Museum of Art Artist Members’ Exhibition, Fort Wayne, IN Zg 10, group show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL

2011

2011 Wabash Valley Juried Competition, Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN Sharpie Show, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN MDW Fair, participating artist, Chicago, IL Zg Winter Group Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL

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2010

Remnants of a Radiant Tomorrow, Just Henry Miller Solo Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Organic Perspectives, Group Exhibition, Artlink Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN Zg MMX, Group Exhibition. Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Highly Personal, Isis Gallery, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

2009

Midwestern Museum of American Art, 31st Annual Juried Exhibition, Elkhart, IN Cluster F*#k, Group Exhibition. Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Under The Influence, Emerging Artists & their Mentors, Lubeznik Art Center, Michigan City, IN

2008

Small Treasures, Group Exhibition. Spurious Fugitive Gallery, South Bend, IN Signature (4), Group Exhibition. Spurious Fugitive Gallery, South Bend, IN Midwestern Museum of American Art, 30th Annual Juried Exhibition, Elkhart, IN Group, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL Ubernatur Curiosities: 3-Man Show, Spurious Fugitive Gallery, South Bend, IN Winter Show, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL

2007

Group, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL

2006

(Dahy-dak-tik) Spurious Fugitive Gallery, South Bend, IN Radioactive, Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL. Solo Exhibition Bionic Bags of Radioactive Meat, Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, IN. Solo Exhibition.

Strange Fictions, Northern Illinois University Gallery, Chicago, IL

2005

Beyond Tomorrow, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago Il The Spurious Fugitive, South Bend, IN 23rd Biennial, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN It’s All Relative, group exhibition at Space 237, Toledo, OH

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2004

Midwestern Museum of American Art, Juried Competition, Elkhart, IN Crossroads Gallery Group Exhibition, South Bend, IN In Between, Krasl Gallery, St. Joseph, MI

2003

SWOPE Juried Exhibition, SWOPE Museum of Art, Terre Haute, IN Little Critters, Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL. Solo exhibition Ready for War, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL

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PUBLICATIONS 2018

Featured article “Fantastic 4”, by Bryan A. Hollerbach, Ladue News, September 7, 2018 Interview by Emily Denlinger, Catalogue, Bruno David Gallery Publications, October 2018 HEC-TV interview by Kerry Marks “Happening Now”, September 5, 2018

2014

Fort Wayne Reader, Biological Canvas, New Exhibit at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, April 3, 2014 The Journal Gazette, Seeing art inside out by Keiara Carr, April 4, 2014

2012

The News-Gazette, Charleston, IL, October 8, 2012

2010

New City, review by Michael Weinstein, and Top Five Pick, September 20, 2010, pg.10 Art Letter, review by Paul Klein, September 10, 2010 Bluecanvas Magazine issue 6, October 2010 INstudio with Justin Henry Miller, Artlink’s Summer 2010 Genre publication

2009

Justin Miller: Painter, Art Scene. Fort Wayne Museum of Art Winter 2009 News/ Events Catalog

2006

Miller Time: Mishawwka Artist’s Other Worldly Works Highlight Group Show.

Jeremy D. Bonfiglio. South Bend Tribune. December 10, 2006.

Visions of the Future in the Gallery’s Farewell Show. Alan Artner, Chicago Tribune. 4/21/06, Pg. 27

2005

Gallery Guide: Midwest, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, November 2005, Pg. 26 Seeing with Sci-fi Eyes: ‘Beyond Tomorrow!’ Evan Gillespie, South Bend Tribune. October 30, 2005 Biennial 23’ Really Fourteen Small Shows in One. Andrews Hughes, South Bend Tribune 6/12/05 The Juggler, Volume 62, Spring 2005

2004

The Juggler, Volume 60, Spring 2004

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN Kishwaukee College, Malta, IL Zayed University, United Arab Emirates

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ARTISTS Laura Beard Heather Bennett Lisa K. Blatt Michael Byron Bunny Burson Judy Child Carmon Colangelo Alex Couwenberg Jill Downen Yvette Drury Dubinsky Damon Freed Douglass Freed

Michael Jantzen Kelley Johnson Howard Jones (Estate) Chris Kahler Xizi Liu Kahlil Robert Irving Bill Kohn (Estate) Leslie Laskey Justin Henry Miller Yvonne Osei Patricia Olynyk Gary Passanise

Ellen Jantzen

Judy Pfaff

Charles P. Reay Daniel Raedeke Tom Reed Frank Schwaiger Charles Schwall Christina Shmigel Thomas Sleet Shane Simmons Buzz Spector Cindy Tower Monika Wulfers Jon Howard Young

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