David Miller

David Miller, Up Jumped the Devil, Photographic drawing, 2009


Through engaging with such writings as A Rebours by Huysmans, Inferno by Dante and photographic writings by Roland Barthes it is inevitable that Miller’s work is concerned with self-representation, caricatures, religion, mythology and process. These literary inspirations lead to a practice involving both comedy and tragedy alike, the work playing on the sentimentality of looking back into a historically ambiguous time approaching a fairytale image.

Miller’s visual presentation of these themes falls into no single category. His thought processes are represented through unfixed photographs, torch drawings, video, installations and darker performances, which touch on sexuality and death. Miller’s method is directly affected by his subconscious, experiences, musical and filmic tastes and a slippage of fantasy into reality. His alter egos the Dandy, the English Gentleman and the Lace Gimp become the personifications of an inner turmoil found threaded throughout his works.

Charlie Levine

www.mysterdavid.co.uk