Finite Things by Melanie Miller

MELANIE MILLER FINITE THINGS

MELANIE MILLER FINITE THINGS

LONG & RYLE 4 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4PX t : +44 (0) 20 7834 1434 e: gallery@long-and-ryle.com • www.longandryle.com • tues – fri 10 - 5:30 sat 11- 2 lef t: Lichen Pond, 2020 oil on gesso panel

50 × 50 cm (detail)

THE FAR FIELD BY THEOD ORE ROETHKE

All finite things reveal infinitude: The mountain with its singular bright shade Like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow, The after-light upon ice-burdened pines; Odor of basswood on a mountain-slope, A scent beloved of bees; Silence of water above a sunken tree : The pure serene of memory in one man, -A ripple widening from a single stone Winding around the waters of the world.

MELANIE MILLER The works in this exhibition have all been produced after a residency in Canada in 2019, my work has always looked at the known and overlooked objects around us. Given a month to focus solely on my work I was given time to explore, research and respond to entirely new surroundings, indigenous plants and creatures, Working from life using a combination of observational drawing and basic photographic and printmaking processes exploring ideas about familiarity and rarity.

The unfamiliar location and scale of the surroundings there made me focus on a new familar and local. The beautiful migrant seaweeds attached to rocks took on a poetic resonance, as I too was far from home.

A habit of collecting natural objects and a desire work in 3 dimensions culminated in

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H Y D R A N G E A A N D P E A C H B L O S S O M M O T H , 2019 oil on gesso board 30 × 30 cm

the creation of the box pieces, everything in them is real and precious, I use lenses to enable the viewer to light them and interact with them in a personal way and to form their own narratives to focus on commonplace things as powerful and important.

The most recent paintings expand on paintings of spring blossoms and flowers I encountered on my daily exercise during the first 2020 lockdown. I noted the progression of flora and fauna I was encountering during the changing seasons, I saw the first snake in my local park and the many different varieties of moths and butterflies of plants, fungi, grasses and moss, at a time we all were forced to stay close to our homes many of us found it very rewarding to be able to pay close attention to nature nearby.

Melanie Miller, December, 2020.

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C A L L I N G R A I N , 2020 mixed media box 17 × 12 × 9 cm

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G O T H I C M E A D O W, 2020

M E A D O W B U T T E R C U P S , 2020

M E A D O W F U N G I , 2020

oil on gesso panel 50 × 30 cm

oil on gesso panel 50 × 30 cm

oil on gesso board 50 × 30 cm

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V E R D A N T, 2020 mixed media box 23 × 17 × 10 cm

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S A T I N M O T H , 2020

N O C T U R N A L , 2020

oil on gesso board 20 × 20 cm

oil on gesso panel 30 × 30 cm

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B A L A N C E , 2020 mixed media box 16.5 × 11.5 × 9 cm

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S A I L O R S H E A R T I V, 2020 oil on gesso panel 110 × 80 cm

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M I N E R A L , 2020 mixed media box 20.5 × 14.5 × 10 cm

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W H E R E T H E W I L D T H Y M E G R O W S , 2020 mixed media box 14 × 20 × 10.5 cm

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M O S S , 2020

L I C H E N P O N D , 2020

oil on gesso panel 40 × 40 cm

oil on gesso panel 50 × 50 cm

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V E S T I G E , 2020 MIXED MEDIA BOX 18 × 12 × 9 CM

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T H R O U G H T H E F O R E S T, 2020 mixed media box 15 × 10 × 8 cm

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N I G H T M E A D O W, 2020 cyanotype & mixed media on paper 75 × 55 cm

E D U C AT I O N Maidstone College of Art B.A hons Fine Art. 2002 Wimbledon School of Art M.A in Painting.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020/ 21 Finite Things, Long and Ryle, London, December – January 2020 Solace, Long and Ryle, London, June 2018-19 The Form Of Things, Unknown, Le Salon Vert, Geneva, Switzerland 2014 Natural History, Long and Ryle, London, February 2011 Close: Still, Millenium, St Ives, June 2010 Moth Boy and Bees, Long and Ryle, London, September 2009 Small Truths, Millennium, St Ives, October

Forgotten Landscapes, Long and Ryle, London 2008 Particular, Hilton Young, Penzance, Cornwall

Gallery Artists Vertigo Gallery, London

Inanimate, Chapel Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall

E X H I B I T I O N S C U R AT E D

2018

Seen Unseen , an exhibition with five painters and a poet, Alice Oswald, Juliette Losq, Sue Williams A’court, Anna Gardiner, Louise McClary, Melanie Miller, Long and Ryle, London, June – September

SELECTED RECENT EXHIBITIONS

2020 The Seventh View , C24 Gallery, New York 2002-06, 2005-13, 2015-19

Royal Academy Summer exhibition 2002-2016, 2017, 2019

The Discerning Eye Mall galleries, London 2009-13, 2015-17

Columbia Threadneedle Prize (Shortlisted 2009)

A RT FA I R S

Art Miami London Art Fair International Print Fair 20 / 21 Art Fair BADA

RESIDENCIES 2019

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SONG OF THE SEA, 2020

mixed media box 16 × 10 × 7 .5 cm

KIRA: Kingsbrae International residency for the Arts Canada

LONG & RYLE