“Flat and Empty”, 2008, Partial Installation view, Plus Gallery
About the Show
Andy Miller, another local sculptor, has radically departed, aesthetically, from his previous works. In the past his installations have included lights, neon, horse hair, pearls, foam and vinyl. "Skins" is a simplified version of those works, using just beautifully stitched vinyl pieces. "Skins" features three wall-based works, and one large floor work.
In these pieces, Miller has literally skinned a sculpture, removing the surface layer from its internal infrastructure. Conceptually, this is part of the artist’s experimentation with removing the aesthetic from the object. The formless sculptures allude to the shape of helicopter seeds. While this is a more direct reference to organic objects than in many of his past works, Miller sees a logical progression between his subtle use of organic references in the past with the blatant references used here.
The seed itself suggest the beginning of a life cycle, conception and pregnancy. It is something that is life giving and purely natural. Miller distorts this concept slightly by showing a man-made, vinyl skin. The skins, while theoretically referencing life and birth, are, in reality, flat and lifeless and made from inorganic materials.
Where nature effortlessly creates its helicopter forms, Miller has created skins with painstaking detail and superb craftsmanship. In the past he has used decoration on his sculptures, but this exhibition features work sans ornamentation and stands to be some of the most conceptual work Miller has exhibited.
