Joseph A. Miller, figures in the landscape

Joseph A. Miller is an Associate Professor of Art at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo State, where he has taught drawing and painting since 1997. His work is in numerous public and private collections, and has been shown internationally in Finland, China, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as across the United States, from Berkeley, California to Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work has been exhibited at the Arnot Art Museum, the Castellani Art Museum and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in New York, the Allentown Art Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Erie Art Museum in Pennsylvania, the Masur Art Museum in Louisiana, and the Springville Museum of Art in Utah. He has earned numerous awards, including a First Place Award in Manifest Creative Research Gallery’s International Drawing Annual V, in Cincinnati Ohio, Best in Show Award in the Academy National Juried Exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg, VA, and two Purchase Awards from Wright State University Art Galleries in Dayton, Ohio. Joseph has given lectures about his work at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Daemen College, New York, Southern Utah University, The University of Utah, and Utah State University.

Artist Statement:

I have always been inclined to pursue art in a manner, which emphasizes drawing and a concern for naturalism. Having a great admiration for the tradition of realist painting, I have devoted a good deal of energy developing the technical and perceptual skills required by this discipline. I focus on both the landscape, and the human figure depicted in environments that create a context for psychologically charged, open ended narratives. Many of these narratives explore ideas about power and vulnerability.

Quality of light is a common theme. In particular, the way in which atmospheric light and locale can suggest a sense of mystery and silence. These works are dark, humid and hopefully, at their best, memorable. For me, the most successful are those that evoke the feeling that an event is about to happen or has recently happened. Landscapes glow with potential, and sometimes figures venture out on to these landscapes like characters on a stage. In groups or in isolation, they share a common feeling of significance. Wholly absorbed within themselves or the dialogue shared between one another, they wait for the unfolding of their private story.
Joseph A. Miller
Jun 21, 2020

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