Miller, Alan
Alan Miller was born in 1941. From 1959-1963 he attended the Bath Academy of Art and continued to study fine art and painting at the Slade School of Art, London between 1963-65. In 1971 Miller first exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery, London and then at the Hayward Gallery in 1973. In a 1984 retrospective exhibition of Miller's work, John Golding wrote that viewers would find a 'powerful, originally somewhat raw talent which has been steadily maturing and deepening.'
The work 'Collage II (Untitled)' is from a series of three works, made from cut paper painted with acrylic. This earlier work shows Miller's primary use of acrylic paint, before he moved onto oil paint-based works. The medium of this work is integral, as the artist reflected that 'in the earlier paintings I used to refer more often to the materials that a picture was made from, regarding these as an important part of its content.'
Miller later became an acclaimed tutor at the Royal College of Art. Upon his death in 2009, he was described by arts journalist Laura K. Jones as 'one of London's true mavericks.' Former pupil, the artist Tracey Emin, wrote in tribute in his obituary in The Independent newspaper that Miller had shown her how to be an artist: 'I thank him for the confidence he instilled in me and I will always be grateful for his selfless support, which I know he extended to many other and he will be really missed.'
Felice McDowell
Collage II (Untitled)
1973