Nine Things You Need To Know...McAlpine Miller
Scottish painter Stuart McAlpine Miller – dubbed “one of the best artists of our time” by revered art critic Estelle Lovatt – has set his sights on the U.S. art scene with a solo exhibition launching in New York.
1) The Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery, located in New York’s Chelsea district, will be home to McAlpine Miller’s latest exhibition of 24 original paintings from 9th-30th March 2016. The pop art-inflected oil on canvas works, bought together in a newly curated exhibition exclusively for the gallery, will be the U.S. debut of McAlpine Miller’s singular vision of American – and in fact global – popular culture.
2) McAlpine Miller graduated from Glasgow School of Art with a BA Honours in Drawing and Painting in 1990. He was shortlisted for the Provost Award at Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museums in 1996.
3) He was commissioned by Paul McCartney to paint his piano for the 2004 European Tour, has worked on numerous advertising campaigns for global consumer brands and was the artist in residence at the renowned Savoy Hotel, London, in 2012.
4) He has exhibited at galleries including State of the Arts Gallery, (Hong Kong), The Halcyon Gallery (Mayfair, London), Grosvenor Gallery (London) and Gagliardi Gallery (Chelsea, London) amongst others, and attended art fairs in Chicago, Glasgow, Dublin and China.
5) McAlpine Miller’s work is exclusively published by Washington Green Fine Art, the UK’s leading fine art publisher. The artist has released three collections, Altered Images (2013), Mirror Mirror (2014) and The Unspoken Word (2015), in collaboration with Washington Green, which have captivated audiences and collectors alike, leading him to be tipped as the artist to invest in by leading UK art critics.
6) McAlpine Miller’s work, identified by startlingly photorealistic compositions, appear at first glance to be collage or an amalgamation of magazine clippings and cartoon imagery. Upon closer examination, the intricate, hand painted works bring these worlds together with subtle tones that create the illusion of transparency.
7) The striking assemblage of commercial imagery and text distills the collective, fractious imagination, challenging the reality of modern image making. The subject matter constantly overlaps and distorts, alluding to the fading of memories and aspirations.
8) Cartoons, comic book superheroes and fashion models converge and collide in McAlpine Miller’s work, illustrating the unrealistic idealism that these celebrated icons connote – familiar ideas manipulated so as to become decidedly unfamiliar. Challenging the concept of the centerfold, McAlpine Miller questions our standard of beauty and presents an indictment of the increasingly artificial representations of our own desire. McAlpine Miller seems to say, the 21st century façade has become its own art form.
9) Glyn Washington, Founder and Director of Washington Green, said: “Washington Green saw the potential in Stuart’s incredible work from the early stages of his career– over the years we have worked with Stuart he has built a strong collector base in the UK as demand for his work continues to grow. We are very excited to be collaborating with the Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery to showcase a selection of Stuart’s original artworks."
The self-titled exhibition will be held at the Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery located at 527 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011 from Wednesday 9th March – Wednesday 30th March 2016.
