My work moves between abstraction and realism, drawing in elements of the natural world as well as the influence of basic computer graphics and cel animation.
This body of work on paper and acetate, Drawings, dense and slim, plays with ideas of nature and artificiality, presenting a wide array of imagined spaces, from highly fanciful recreations of the inner workings of a machine, to a landscape that scrolls out in a loop. They are intricately constructed and detailed with contrasting patterns, colours and spatial arrangements. I think much of my work could be described as containing a faux-digital aesthetic; some of the patterning I use is reminiscent of pixels. I say ‘faux’ because it’s all handmade.
I love the game of illusion you step into when you draw and paint. The pictures I make pivot between realism and abstraction, depth and flatness, as if testing out every tool available to represent the world. In Drawings, dense and slim, I’ve been thinking about what could be described as the density of digital technology – the way something so mercurial, mini and seemingly weightless can contain so much. In turn, sometimes I like to see how much I can pack into a picture; see how thick it can get, in its own slim way.
There are also other things these pictures have offered to me too, at least in terms of the places they have allowed me to inhabit. I have tried to find beauty in these drawings. I’ve also tried to find the peculiar. And perhaps because they can take so long to do, I have hoped to find sanctuary; imaginary realms that might envelop me, if only just for a spell.
Viv Miller
Two heads, two hands 2021
gouache and pencil on paper, acrylic and pen on acetate
30 × 21 cm
(36 × 28.5 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Ordered machine 2020
gouache and pencil on paper, acrylic and pen on acetate
30 × 21 cm
(36 × 28.5 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Machine splinters 2021
gouache and pencil on paper, acrylic and pen on acetate
42 × 30 cm
(51 × 38 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Machine parts 2020
gouache and pencil on paper, acrylic and pen on acetate
42 × 30 cm
(51 × 38 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Machine unravels 2020
gouache and pencil on paper, acrylic and pen on acetate
42 × 30 cm
(51 × 38 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Wallpaper 2020
gouache and pencil on paper; acrylic and pen on acetate
34 × 54 cm
(47 × 69.5 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Long cave 2020
gouache and pencil on paper
30 × 63 cm
(42 × 78.5 cm framed)
Viv Miller
An upside down 2021
gouache, pencil and pen on paper
30 × 63 cm
(42 × 78.5 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Landscape in 3 2020
gouache, pencil and pen on paper
31.5 × 69 cm
(42 × 78.5 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Looped Landscape 3 2021
gouache and pencil on paper
63 × 47 cm
(77 × 60 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Paths 1 2021
gouache and pencil on paper
65 × 56 cm
(78 × 68 cm framed)
Viv Miller
Paths 2 2021
gouache and pencil on paper
65 × 56 cm
(78 × 68 cm framed)
