Sarah Gee Miller

As a collagist and painter, Sarah Gee Miller’s work is largely concerned with clarity, equilibrium and the expressive possibilities of vibrant colour. The formality of hard-edged abstraction fascinates her, as it hides its energy and emotion behind imposed order and a minimal vocabulary. Her work can be described as “warm modernism” particular to the Pacific coast, where the saturated light, and encompassing wilderness and a persistent sense of newness and optimism – undimmed over the decades – has resulted in a more organic, nearly biomorphic approach.

As a collagist and painter, Sarah Gee Miller’s work is largely concerned with clarity, equilibrium and the expressive possibilities of vibrant colour. The formality of hard-edged abstraction fascinates her, as it hides its energy and emotion behind imposed order and a minimal vocabulary. Her work can be described as “warm modernism” particular to the Pacific coast, where the saturated light, and encompassing wilderness and a persistent sense of newness and optimism – undimmed over the decades – has resulted in a more organic, nearly biomorphic approach.

Of her latest work, a series of small paintings in acrylic on Arches paper:

These paintings retain geometric forms while introducing lighter, more pattern-based imagery. The patterns are reminiscent of a domestic space, the quiet sphere of the home. These small works are loosely based on the concept of ukiyo-e, a Japanese art form which playfully reimagined the transitory nature of life into an urging to enjoy the pleasures of it without consequence. In my paintings, an egg-like form gives life to the abstracted possessions and preoccupations of our lives, but there is no alarmist message here, but rather a glimpse into the ephemeral and the joyous.