Jump to content

Sam Orlando Miller

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by StraussInTheHouse (talk | contribs) at 18:46, 11 April 2019 (Rejecting submission: e - Topic is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia (AFCH 0.9.1)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: Please ensure the {{redacted}} template has been replaced with free text for the copyrighted content which was removed. SITH (talk) 18:46, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Sam Orlando Miller (born 1966, London) is a British artist specialising in sculptural artworks made of mirror.[1]

Early Life

(Redacted)[2]

Miller graduated (1986) in Fine Art from Falmouth School of Art [3] where he was recognised for his large-scale forged steel sculptures and high level of drawing skills. His graduation theses subject was the work of American artist Barbara Kruger.

Work

In 1987-88, Miller lived and worked in Montisi, a mediaeval hill town outside Siena, Italy. This was a formative time studying at Italian art, design and architecture and creating sculptures and drawings.

Between 1990-1993 he lived and worked in Glasgow, Scotland, setting up a studio for his sculptural work. He began taking on commissions for private residential interiors and aircraft.

In 1994 he returned to London, established a large studio to undertake creative interior projects for commercial and residential interiors. The studio made high specification sculptural objects, interiors and fittings.[4]

During these years he was commissioned to design the interior of the London Italian restaurants Spiga and Spighetta, working with Giorgio Locatelli, made interiors for retails stores Browns of South Molton Street, Liberty of Regent Street and made large-scale sculptural interiors for DKNY. He contributed high specification fittings, lighting, gilded doors and unique sculptures made of precious stones and metals for the custom-interiors of private aircraft of the Royal family of Brunei.

In 2002 he relocated to an early 18th century farmhouse in a remote part of Le Marche, central Italy. Over the next six years he created private interiors, working mostly on historic buildings in central Italy for private clients. He continued to make functional sculptural objects and interior fittings and furniture. [5] Alongside this work he created a prolific output of drawings, paintings and steel sculptures[6], some of which would later form the Nostalgia Futuro series, completed in 2016.

In 2005, to coincide with an exhibition of his work at Macandi showroom in Mayfair, London, his work was featured in The World of Interiors.[7]

In 2009 Miller made the first Untitled Mirror for his home in Italy, using discarded mirrors he had found and picked up because he was drawn to the flaking silver. He then began working with a palette of handmade glass the he silvered to create mirror, often adding patina by creating marks on the silver itself with painterly lines and numbers. He became interested in creating a complexity of layers for the viewer, drawing attention to the surface of the mirror itself and creating distractions from their own reflection.[8]

In March 2012 Miller made Untitled Mirror 5, a large, faceted mirror work of tantalising emerald greens, measuring 2.2 meters wide, which was exhibited by Hedge Gallery at Dallas Art Fair. Sixteen new works in shaded from inky midnight blue to pale celeste, The Sky Blue Series, were exhibited at Hedge Gallery in September the same year, including the first Untitled Tables I and 2. In this series Miller explored the thought of sky as a metaphor, likening the sky to the mind; dark and light, clear and hazy, intangible and mysterious.[9] In 2012 Miller also exhibited works during Salone del Mobile Milan as guest artist at Gallery Space | Laboratorio Avallone, curated by Malgosia Szemberg.[10]

An important large-scale mirror Rete Corallina 6X6/4 was presented at Design Miami/Basel 2015, now in a private collection.[11] An exhibition of eleven new works, Tra L'Occhio e L'Ombra was presented at Gallery FUMI in April 2016, including Sguardo Cubetti series consisting of six functional sculptural objects each using the same form attached into different dimensions, creating tables and cupboards with secret sliding compartments[12]. The exhibition included four works from Miller's very personal Nostalgia Futuro series where the reflection of his studio seen in the mirror panel of the work is painted onto the surrounding surface. [13]

Miller suggests that within the studio, the mirrored surfaces transform reality into a world of softness and ambiguity. He suggests that while looking in the mirror, the activity of making is thrown into questions and the meaning becomes uncertain. For him whether the works are tables or mirrors, boxes or paintings is not so important; what is important is that they create the possibility for the viewer to being a momentarily uplifting place.[14]

Miller is interested in drawing the viewer's gaze into his work. He suggests that silver is a compelling surface that draws the viewer towards it, as does mirror being made of glass and silver. Aware of the attraction of a silver surface that reflects our image back and shows us in our environment, he carefully chooses materials to make this encounter more interesting.[15]

Miller's latest body of work Sentiero dei Viandanti (Path of The Wayfarers) was a creative shift and marked his relocation from Italy to Catalonia, Spain. The body of work contained the essence of a journey, memories of the old and new. Pivoting around a large free-standing sculptural mirror work, Rifugio dei Viandanti (Sanctuary of The Wayfarers), the installation was designed to present the back of the work, where Miller's making and structuring was clearly visible like the clues on the back of a painting, a subdued and reflective place for the visitor to discover as they move around the gallery.[16]

Personal

Sam Orlando Miller is married to photographer and filmmaker Helen Underwood Miller[17]. They have worked together professionally for thirty years. He lives in London and Catalonia, Spain.

Selected Exhibitions

2019

  • Sam Orlando Miller | Sentiero dei Viandanti, Path of The Wayfarers. Gallery FUMI, London, UK

2018

  • Reflections, ammann//gallery, Cologne, Germany
  • Re-considering Canon, Design Museum, London, UK[18]
  • Now and Then | 10 years of Collectable Creativity , curated by Libby Sellers, Gallery FUMI, London, UK

2017

  • Salon Art + Design, New York City, USA

2016

  • Sam Orlando Miller | Tra L'Occhio e L'Ombra, Gallery FUMI, London, UK

2015

  • Design Days Dubai, Dubai, UAE
  • Design Miami/Basel 2015, Basel, Switzerland[19]

2014

2012

  • Guest artist at Gallery Space | Studio Avallone, curated by Malgosia Szemberg, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy
  • Flection, Hedge Gallery, San Francisco, USA
  • They Sky Blue Series, Hedge Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2006

  • Before the Thought of God, curated by Andrew Hewish, Centre for Recent Drawing, London, UK
  • Group Exhibition, Pinacoteca Santa Vittoria in Matenano, Italy

2005

  • Made in Italy, Macandi Showrooms, London, UK

2004

  • Exhibition of objects and furniture, Macandi Showrooms, London, UK


References

  1. ^ "Sam Orlando Miller: The Sky Blue Series on View at Hedge Gallery". Modern Magazine. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  2. ^ Van der Post, Lucia (13 May 2016). "Mirrored Art". How to Spend it. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  3. ^ Miller, Helen (April 2004). "Found Effects". The World of Interiors: 156 – via Database.
  4. ^ Singer, Jill (18 October 2012). "Sam Orlando Miller, Le Marche, Italy". Sightunseen. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  5. ^ Gardner, Anthony (1 December 2011). "Sam Orlando Miller's Elegant Mirrors". AD. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  6. ^ Crichton-Miller, Emma (21 February 2014). "Fine artist-led furniture". How to Spend it. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  7. ^ Miller, Helen (April 2004). "Found Effects". The World of Interiors: 156.
  8. ^ "Mirror Funiture Design". ILOBOYOU. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  9. ^ "Sam Orlando Miller: The Sky Blue Series on View at Hedge Gallery". Modern Magazine. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  10. ^ Kemshurov, Monica (26 April 2012). "At the 2012 Milan Furniture Fair, Part III". Sightunseen. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  11. ^ Azzarello, Nina (14 June 2015). "Gallery FUMI – Contemporary Works and Commissions". Designboom. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  12. ^ Bertoli, Rosa (3 May 2016). "Tra l'Occhio e l'Ombra: Sam Orlando Miller gets illusory at Gallery FUMI". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  13. ^ Perkovic, Jana (3 May 2016). "Sam Orlando Miller's New Works Open at Gallery FUMI". Blouin Artinfo. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  14. ^ Bertoli, Rosa (3 May 2019). "Tra l'Occhio e l'Ombra: Sam Orlando Miller gets illusory at Gallery FUMI". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  15. ^ Abrahams, Charlotte (28 March 2018). "Mirrored furniture that plays with perception". How To Spend It. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  16. ^ De Conte, Massimo (5 March 2019). "Sam Orlando Miller: specchio delle mie brame". Living il Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  17. ^ Singer, Jill (18 October 2012). "Sam Orlando Miller, Le Marche, Italy". Sightunseen. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Reconsidering Canon". designmuseum.org. Retrieved 3 April 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  19. ^ "Design Miami/Basel". ICON. 19 June 2015.
  20. ^ "Modern Makers". www.sothebys.com. Retrieved 3 April 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Sam_Orlando_Miller&oldid=892031657"