Judy Millar : Be Do Be Do Be Do

8th June — 27th July

WHEN : 8th June — 27th July
WHERE : Institute of Modern Art

Every time I make a painting I’m dragging the whole history of painting with me.—Judy Millar

Post-expressionist painter Judy Millar is a paradox. She seems to do everything she can to distance herself from the old idea of authentic, expressive painting. She has made candy-coloured, heroically-scaled, parodic abstract-expressionist paintings. She has blown-up her painterly gestures using a billboard printer. She has attached these printed ‘paintings’ to giant sculptural supports (so it’s hard to tell if her painterly gestures are in competition or cahoots with the support). Now she is handpainting enlarged halftone dots.

Recently asked if she was trying to denature or dehumanise the brushstroke, Millar explained, ‘I’m not trying to dehumanise it. If anything I’m trying to rehumanise it. I’m trying to give it more authority. Despite the absurd scale, you still relate to the work through your body.’ Regardless of her apparent efforts to put expressive painting in scare quotes, Millar’s works continue to court affect. They attest to the incredible resilience and efficacy of painting—a medium that has survived (but been transformed by) its many ‘deaths’. For her show Be Do Be Do Be Do, Millar will create three site-specific painting installations, filling the IMA. She plans to work with local art students to help her complete the giant works in situ.

Millar, who represented New Zealand in the 2009 Venice Biennale, now splits her time between Auckland and Berlin. She is represented by Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland; Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney; Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin; and Galerie Mark Muller, Zurich.

Info not available

Related Posts

Ross Manning: Matter and Matrix

Ross Manning: Matter and Matrix

20230401
20230429
Sha Sarwari: Archaeology of Memory

Sha Sarwari: Archaeology of Memory

20230401
20230429
Robert Brownhall

Robert Brownhall

20230328
20230422
Morgan Allender: Soft Skin Warm Earth

Morgan Allender: Soft Skin Warm Earth

20230322
20230411
TEETERING, TITTERING, TITS UP

TEETERING, TITTERING, TITS UP

20230318
20230415
Dissolving Worlds: Tim and Mic Gruchy

Dissolving Worlds: Tim and Mic Gruchy

20230406
20230603
Miri Badger: IKKUNA

Miri Badger: IKKUNA

20230308
20230410
Easton Dunne: Main Drag

Easton Dunne: Main Drag

20230318
20230415
Jonathan Kopinski: Nervous. Solid. Nothing.

Jonathan Kopinski: Nervous. Solid. Nothing.

20230321
20230408
Rebecca Ross: Greater Sunrise

Rebecca Ross: Greater Sunrise

20230325
20230415