Growing up in a small rural area in Illinois, Justin Henry Miller grew to use his love of art as a form of escape and entertainment. Having an uncle who worked in a paper factory, he was able to get an endless supply of paper to draw whatever he pleased as a kid. Not getting to visit museums growing up, he took an interest in copying his comic books to continue his artistry.
“A lot of the things and experiences were all a part of what pulled me into art,” said Miller. “It felt like it was something that I always was engaged with.”
Miller made an appearance at Bluffton University’s art reception located in Sauder Art Building on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 1 p.m. He presented his current work from the past five years called Otherwordland. His artwork is based on two different techniques to show surrealist sci-fi images.
Some of his render pieces are oil painted to show a reaction between nature, animal and man. The distinct details show depth to his pieces to create a profound surreal scene that represents a closing gap between science fiction and science fact.
Oil painting collection created by Miller. Photo by Courtney Weekley.
His approach to his oil paintings were inspired by cloning. While pondering on the thought of where the “messed up clones” may have been put, he created images and portraits of what they may have looked like.
“I feel my paints are sort of like the underdogs of the clones that didn’t really work out,” said Miller. “Its several components being pushed together in a coexistence but also present it in a way with whim and humor.”
When you look close enough at Miller’s paintings, you can find them to be a bit more approachable. Miller added references to his son by tagging his initials in the painting. There is also a reference to his father-in-law in an oil painting.
Along with the oil paints Miller presented, there was also his Luchatron series. Wanting to take a step back from his rendered oil paints, Miller wanted his series to look more like the digital age we are in now.
Miller’s Luchatron collection. Photo by Courtney Weekley.
When he started to orchestrate the idea, he thought about life before the internet. As he remembered going to the library and finding it rare to find pictures in encyclopedias, he created these images based on the same idea of his perception back then. Miller decided to create his own idea of what things might have looked like.
While working in an auto body shop in high school, Miller painted flames and other sorts of things on motorcycles and helmets. So the supplies he used to create the Luchatron series is an auto body vinyl that he had painted on to get the various colors within the series. Each piece from the series is put together with acrylic, aerosol and phosphorescent polymer that is then put onto paper.
Miller got the idea for the series when he found strange graphic abstracts in his portfolio from years ago. Forming ideas from the abstract graphics he had found, he knew he could create something from them.
“That’s why I think it is important to go back through old sketchbooks and go through old art stuff to see what might be there,” said Miller. “There might have been a seed that was planted but not ready to grow yet.”
