"You can learn a great deal if you study the insignificant at depth"

Odysseus Elytis, 1911 - 1996



Melanie Miller’s exquisite intimate paintings in oil on gessoed panels continue within the convention of ‘the still life’.

Her paintings of what she calls ‘the unremarkable object’ follow in a tradition of looking at and enshrining the overlooked, and disregarded. This interest in the prosaic rather than the prestigious more familiar from the traditional vanitas still life painting does not mean that the works avoid the common and affecting associations in theme from death, memory, and sentimentality to beauty and personal cultural significance, merely that such associations are open to the viewers personal interpretation rather than a prescribed metaphoric agenda.

Miller says of her work “Whilst I respond to the contemporary works of Cornelia Parker, her objects are profound because of their origin. A feather from Freud’s sofa, or a pair of stockings owned by Queen Victoria etc. are powerful insinuations and that the provenance is known is key to the work. For myself however: I prefer the ambiguity of the familiar object. The neglected object or dead bee picked up from the street have a powerful resonance Its meaning will be different for each person, its provenance unknown and its significance ambiguous.”

The paintings are created from intense observation, the objects painted life-size. The quotidian subjects are chosen with a degree of spontenaiety, of what happens to be around or happened upon, but they are chosen for their innate
elementary appeal. One is reminded of Pablo Picasso’s words “We must not discriminate between things, where things are concerned there are no class distinctions, we must pick out what is good for us where we find it”.

For Miller allure is a factor in selection of the object which is reinforced with the detail with which these ‘finds’ are painstakingly rendered, but the aesthetic is often challenged by an uncomfortable compositional juxtaposition which reinforces the need for the viewer to work to overcome the discordant or surprising in order to reach a situation of appreciation. For me the consequence of looking at these paintings is to approach the everyday with renewed wonder.

These intimate works clearly achieve a profound degree of honesty reflecting the indigenous experience of the everyday not of the exotic beauty of escapism. They are quiet, simple settings, which emphatically illustrate the everyday ‘small truths’ which contribute to lifes marvellous menagerie of minutiae.


Joseph Clarke