Thursday, 2nd November 2017 – Saturday, 10th February 2018
Cassina Projects New York
508 W 24th St, New York
NY 10011, USA
Cassina Projects is pleased to announce Gerold Miller’s first Solo exhibition in the USA
Gerold Miller’s artistic practice has transformed over the course of his career but his research has always been conceptually based. The physical appearance of the work is only important in terms of how it is presented within a space and not on its aesthetic beauty. Cassina Projects presents recent works by the artist that showcase his contemporaneity and his ability to capture and expand the spatial contexts of the subjective viewer.
Here we see works from Miller’s Monoform, Set, and Verstarker series which are all based on contemporary materials and modern techniques. By replacing the usual canvas with aluminum and paint with enamel, he is removing himself from the traditional format of painting and creating minimalist series’ that incorporate sculptural, architectural and painterly elements.
Investigating space and how we navigate space is an essential theme in Miller’s work. Like an architect, two-dimensional plans are transformed into three-dimensional objects and meticulously refined under different conditions within a physical space. The space in which the work is viewed changes as we move around it due to the reflection of the Set Series’ colored enamel on the walls and the sheer size and framing of the Monoform. These surfaces function as a catalyst for the imagination to create a virtual space that often includes a reflection of ourselves.
Like a computer screen, the vividly colored surfaces of the works reflect our surroundings back at as, allowing us to experience our spatial perception in a simulated form. What we perceive to be a new physical and three-dimensional space is then absorbed by the work’s surface and flattened into a two-dimensional image.
In this digital age, it is nearly impossible to come across a work of art that does not exist within a preexisting network of interpretations but Miller uses this to his advantage. He knowingly uses illuminating colors that are primarily seen on screens and the contrast of the lustrous and matte black of our smartphones to create works that are non-restrictive to digital and physical contexts. The location in which an art object is displayed is directly related to how it is understood. When photographed and digitally presented there are no reflections and the objectivity of the work is lost. This viewer becomes convinced that this is the way the work is supposed to be seen but they are unaware of what emerges when they are in the physical presence of the work.