Greg Miller’s neo-Pop paintings reify two things about contemporary taste: one, the collage aesthetic has not been overwhelmed by post-modernist irony — indeed, that aesthetic’s own potential for irony continues to unfold — and, two, the era of consumption kicked off by the end of World War II has not really ended, it has only changed gears. Or platforms. Miller’s work tells us a fair amount about nostalgia, accretion, and the persistence of memory, even when the memories that persist are only approximations — or even simulations — of the recaller’s actual experience. In other words, Miller paints what we think we ought to remember (rather than the erratic selection of images we do remember); he ironizes the process by compiling the picture out of disparate elements united only by their association with a lived past (thus hinting at the way we actually remember things); and he reminds us that our appetites haven’t changed all that much from half a century (or longer) ago. We’re still motivated by sex, success, and self-image, and advertising, as it always has (indeed, as it’s supposed to), cleverly acts upon those motivations.
Opening Reception: Thursday, Sept 12, 5:30-7:30PM
Check gallery website for hours and additional info
