John Miller, a refusal to accept limits

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Among contemporaries like Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw, John Miller occupies a unique position by merging an ideologically committed critique of representation with a postconceptual focus on the "real." Utilizing stereotyped genres such as figurative painting and travel photography, Miller, akin to Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince, has challenged the role of the author and the loss of aura in artwork since the late 1970s. For him, this critique serves to expose the repressed aspects of ideological constructs in late-capitalist Western culture. Initially recognized for his brown "faux" abstract paintings and objects, he resisted what he terms "aesthetic appropriation" by continually evolving his practice, introducing series like the "Middle of the Day" photographs and game show sets throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This strategy of resisting reduction to any critical label helps explain why, despite early recognition from theorists like Hal Foster, he remains overlooked among his peers. This publication, featuring newly commissioned essays, aims to remap his oeuvre, highlighting its development across various series, media, and aesthetic strategies. It is published in collaboration with Kunsthalle Zürich.