Figurative painter Joseph A. Miller freeze-frames telling moments of childhood and beyond. He focuses on the human figure in environments that create a context for psychologically charged open-ended narratives. Many of these narratives explore ideas about power and vulnerability, about enchantment and play. Children at play are often featured.
“I remember as a child looking at the edge of the page of my copy of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I was mesmerized by how much illusion and meaning was squeezed onto that thin sheet of paper. For me, this was a magic trick that I wanted to learn how to do!” says Miller.
Born in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1968, Miller grew up in Mt. Bethel, Penn. along the Delaware River. He says his formative years were spent living inside of what looked like an Andrew Wyeth painting; rural and pastoral scenes occasionally interrupted by reminders of civilization; water and radio towers, distant lights glowing off in the distance, muddy fields and meadows of brambles and wildflowers.
“In the kitchen of my grandparents’ Pennsylvania farmhouse was a framed print of Andrew Wyeth’s egg tempera painting Groundhog Day,” he recalls. “While no figures are depicted in that painting, their nearby presence is implied by the cup, saucer, plate, and knife, which are so curiously presented, bathed in ambient light on the kitchen table. That image made a big impression on me because of its beautiful depiction of, and emphasis on, the effects of light.”
Miller’s interest in light was later joined by color when he discovered the Pre-Raphaelite painters in the library stacks at Kutztown University where he studied drawing and painting.
He was drawn to The Pre-Raphaelites very detailed, colorful, symbolic, narrative paintings of figures in the English countryside during the 19th century. “Between the austere formalism of Wyeth and the luminous narratives of the Pre-Raphaelites, my artistic inclinations were forming,” he says.
Miller graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1993 with an MFA in painting and drawing. He then worked for three years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a security guard and in the Art Conservation department.
“I had access to so much great art which I sketched in a small sketchbook. I knew that I wanted to share my love of painting and drawing with others,” he says. In 1997, Miller was offered a teaching position at SUNY Buffalo State where he is now an associate professor of art and teaches drawing and painting.
Starting as a landscape painter, Miller says he later began to see the landscape as a stage where characters could exist. He developed a practice of combining both landscapes and figures together in the tradition of the figurative painters of the past.
He often incorporates water scenes into his paintings. I grew up along the Delaware river and learned early on that water is not necessarily blue,” he says. “It takes on the colors of the sky, the surroundings and the ever-ebbing flow of ripples and waves. Water is archetypal and universal, and forever symbolic of life.”
“Images of figures or figures in landscapes, in groups or in isolation, share a common feeling of significance,” Miller adds. “Wholly absorbed within themselves or the dialogue shared between one another, they wait for the unfolding of their private story. I enjoy story telling through images, so I make use of both narrative and symbolism in my work.”
Quality of light continues to be a common theme for Miller. “In particular,” he says, “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.”
Miller’s artwork combines drawing and painting from direct observation of models, his own photo references, and imagination. He also draws from sculptural antiquity. “I love all the colors, from the pastel grays and earth tones to the highly saturated. I also love to draw in monochrome; there’s no color like no color.”
His paintings begin as drawings and then transition from drawing to painting on hot pressed watercolor paper adhered to wood panels. He finishes his work with a final coat of re-touch or varnish.
Miller underlines his philosophy believing that, “art is the celebration and expression of subjectivity. And as long as we remain interested in looking into mirrors, there will be interest in Figurative Art. The human figure is a timeless subject that can both seduce and repulse. It can generate feelings of both dignity and shame. It demands that we relate to, reflect upon, empathize, and reconcile with, images of our own mortal bodies. Being a lifelong student of figure drawing and painting, I take great pleasure in sharing, through teaching, what I have learned about this challenging and mysterious subject.”
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