biography
Dan Miller's tireless creativity in superimposing considerable layers of writing to the point of illegibility has proved such a source of fascination for audiences that his art has now reached beyond the sphere of Art Brut to enter the permanent collection at MoMA in New York. While his work is highly contemporary in formal terms, with notable echoes of Pollock and Cy Twombly, Miller nonetheless invents his modes of expression outside the boundaries of mainstream artistic debate.
Dan Miller, born in Castro Valley in 1961, is autistic. He has been attending the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California, for over fifteen years, giving entirely unfettered reign to his inventive imagination. He is obsessed with household objects such as light bulbs and electric sockets, the names of towns and cities, people, numbers, and foodstuffs. He pours his inner world onto the paper, intensely repeating its key signifiers in paint, pen, pencil, and felt tip. The various media intertwine and pile up like the words themselves to create subtle strata of undeniable pictorial power. His works – in black and white or colour – reveal a rare dynamic force that seems to breathe new life into the body of the letters and the expressive power of words, above and beyond the lexical encryption caused by their accumulation.
In 2014, Dan Miller has been shown twice at the Maison rouge in Paris, in the exhibitions Le Mur, works from Antoine de Galbert's collection and art brut, collection abcd/Bruno Decharme. He was part of curator Christine Macel's selection for her exhibition Viva Arte Viva at the Venice Biennale 2017.
selective exhibitions
do the write thing 2: read between the lines, christian berst art brut, paris, from april 26th to june 2nd, 2018.
living in art brut, 123 works from the hannah rieger collection, museumkrems, krems an der donau, austria, from september 8th to october 26th, 2017.
the museum of everything, mona (museum of old and new art), berriedale, australia, from june 10th, 2017, to april 2nd, 2018.
viva arte viva, 57th venice biennial, curator : christine macel, arsenale, venice, italy, from may 13th to november 26th, 2017.
drawing now, le carreau du temple, paris, from march 23th to 26th, 2017.
brut now: l'art brut au temps des technologies, curator : christian berst, associated curators : brut pop, musées de belfort, belfort, from october 29th to january 16t, 2017.
soit 10 ans, états intérieurs, christian berst art brut gallery, paris, from september 12th to october 21th, 2015.
art brut live, dox center for contemporary art, prague, czech republic, from march 27th to august 17th, 2015.
art brut, collection abcd/bruno decharme, la maison rouge, paris, from october 17th to january 18th, 2015.
(off)icielle, cité de la mode et du design, paris, from october 22th to 26th, 2014.
dan miller, graphein II, christian berst art brut, paris, from april 25th to may 17th, 2014.
40 years: new work by dan miller & william scott, creative growth art center, oakland, united states, from june 6th to july 25th, 2013.
creative growth: dan miller & judith scott, aldrich contemporary art museum, ridgefield, united states, from march 24th to august 25th, 2013.
drawing now, carrousel du louvre, paris, from april 11th to 14th, 2013.
drawing now, carrousel du louvre, paris, from march 28th to april 1st, 2012.
dan miller, graphein, christian berst art brut gallery, paris, from march 24th to may 19th, 2012.
slick art fair paris, le garage, paris, from october 17th to 21th, 2012.
creative growth art center, oakland, united states, 2011.
metro show, ricco/maresca gallery, new york, united states, 2011.
drawing now, carrousel du louvre, paris, from march 25th to 28th, 2011.
glossolalia: languages of drawing, museum of modern art, new york, united states, from march 26th to july 7th, 2008.
dan miller, white columns, new york, united states, 2007.
selective bibliography
l'art brut, martine lusardy, citadelles & mazenod, paris, 2018.
art brut : la pulsion creativa al desnudo, graciela garcia, sans soleil ed., vitoria-gasteiz, 2018.
exhibition catalogue, do the write thing 2: read between the lines, christian berst art brut ed., paris, 2018.
exhibition catalogue, living in art brut, 123 works from the hannah rieger collection, museumkrems, bad vöslau, austria, 2017.
exhibition catalogue, viva arte viva: biennale arte 2017, christine macel et al., la biennale di venezia, venice, 2017.
exhibition catalogue, brut now: l'art brut au temps des technologies, musées de belfort, ed. les presses du réel, paris, 2017.
exhibition catalogue, soit 10 ans, états intérieurs, christian berst art brut ed., paris, 2015.
exhibition catalogue, art brut, collection abcd/bruno decharme, la maison rouge, flammarion ed., paris, 2014.
catalogue d'exposition, art brut collection abcd/bruno decharme, la maison rouge, paris, 2014.
la folie de l’art brut, roxana azimi, séguier, paris, 2014
"dan miller und donald mitchell", hannah rieger, in kunst, die verbindet, vienna, 2014
exhibition catalogue, dan miller, graphein, texts by tom di maria, richard leeman and christian berst, christian berst art brut ed., paris, 2012.
"the independent : calm joy amidst art fair claustrophobia" in artcritical, ellie bronson, (http://www.artcritical.com/2012/03/11/independent-art-fair-2012/), 11 mars 2012.
exhibition catalogue, everything # 4, the museum of everything, london, 2011.
create, lawrence rinder, matthew higgs, kevin killian, berkeley art museum and pacific film archive, the university of california, berkeley, 2011.
exhibition catalogue, the museum of everything, pinacoteca agnelli, electa, milan, 2010.
charley n°5, les presses du réel, dijon, 2007.
"montreuil california, 5 créateurs du creative growth art center", abcd le journal n°3, april 2007.
one is adam, one is superman: the artists of creative growth, borensztein, leon, and tom di maria, chronicle books, san francisco, 2004.
to watch : dan miller, bruno decharme, abcd production, 2007, 4'.
catalogue
-
catalogue published to mark the exhibition
april 25 to may 17, 2014
forewords: christian berst
texts by tom di maria & richard leeman
236 pages quadri, 8.2 x 8.2 inches, bilingual french / english
Price : 25 €
ISBN : 979-10-90463-21-9
> order the catalogue (sold out)
selective collections
- collection de l'Art brut, Lausanne (Switzerland)
- abcd collection, montreuil (France)
- Smithsonian Museum Of American Art, Washington (United States)
- The Museum of Modern Art, New-york (United States)
- Musée national d’art moderne (Pompidou), Paris (France)
- Hannah Rieger collection, Vienne (Austria)
- Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, Ridgefield (United States)
- Hervé Lancelin Pinacothèque, Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
selective press review
- galeristes une vision de la création authors alexia lanta maestrati in l'oeil, december 2018.
- dan miller, le langage capital authors baimba kamara in art absolument, september / october 2018.
- christian berst, la nature irréductible de l'art brut authors tom laurent in art absolument, september / october 2018.
- l’envolée de l’art brut authors éric tariant in le temps, november 13, 2017.
- Annette Messager - galerie christian berst authors Philippe Dagen in Le Monde, September 27, 2015.
- L'art brut comme aspiration infinie authors la rédaction in Première vision, July 15, 2015.
- Oficielle, beaucoup de bruit pour rien ou presque. Notre sélection qui sauve l'honneur authors Hugo Saadi in toutelaculture.com, October 22, 2014.
- l'art brut sous les feux des projecteurs authors la rédaction in La Tribune.fr, October 15, 2014.
- Dan Miller, graphein II authors François Salmeron in Paris Art, May 9 2014.
- Dan Miller, graphein 2 authors la rédaction in Télérama Sortir n°3356, May 7 2014.
- L'art brut a sa place à Art Paris Art Fair authors la rédaction in AMA, March 26 2014.
- Montée en puissance d'un art brut enfin reconnu authors Judith Benhamou-Huet in Les Echos.fr, March 29 2013.
- L'art brut épate les galeries authors Eric Tariant in We Demain, .
- Une mystérieuse évidence authors Pierre Deschodt in Artnet, April 24 2012.
- Dan Miller, Graphein authors Marie-Jeanne Caprasse in PARISArt, April 17 2012.
- Dan Miller, galerie Christian Berst authors Philippe Dagen in Le Monde, April 16 2012.
- authors in Le quotidien du médecin, April 12.
- Dan Miller Graphein authors Bénédicte Philippe in Telerama Sortir, April 11 to 17.
- Au Salon du dessin, des œuvres d'art empilées comme autant de liasses sur les murs authors Philippe Dagen in Le Monde, March 30 2012.
- Vertige de l’irrésolu, Dan Miller Graphein, galerie Christian Berst authors Bérénice Clerc in Toutelaculture.com, March 29 2012.
- DRAWING NOW, Dan Miller à Paris authors in animula vagula, March 23 2012.
