Harland Miller: XXX at York Art Gallery

Harland Miller - XXX

 
Harland Miller: XXX is currently on show at York Art Gallery until 31 August 2025.  Miller, born 1964, uses the form of book covers to present his paintings which combine a love of text and abstraction.  He presents single short words in a colourful, eye popping style that draws inspiration from illuminated medieval manuscripts and Pop Artists such as Ruscha and Rauschenburg.  These works are part of his "Letter Painting" series.

Harland Miller - Bi

Here Miller has been influenced by the yellow daffodils on the city walls and the white rose of Yorkshire...

Harland Miller - York

Whilst Miller's works are very striking I liked his smaller, less refined studies better...

Harland Miller - York

Harland Miller - Moon

Harland Miller - Mojo

There is only one painting using a 5 letter word. As Miller progressed through painting words with more letters he found creating these painting with 5 letters challenging.  The advantage of this word is that 3 of the letters are "E" so they can be nested within each other...

Harland Miller - Eerie

Some of Miller's work is so abstracted it's impossible to see the individual letters..

Harland Miller - Nude

You may remember Harland Miller's previous exhibition at York Art Gallery in 2020, just before it closed as a result of the Covid pandemic, which took a similar form and was especially humorous.  You can see such works in the gallery's permanent collection...

Harland Miller - Whitby The Self Catering Years

The inspiration of Miller's upbringing in 1970s Yorkshire is definitely coming through here.

Harland Miller - Scarborough Have Faith in Cod

See more of his previous exhibition here.

Definitely worth a visit. Go see!