Alex Miller

maleglaze@gmail.com

Artist Statement

Art is a conversation, and conversation is play. I use ceramic and multimedia to communicate. My work stems from prompt and response–an interaction with material and the audience.

I make interactive rocks. I am obsessed with the nature of clay, intentionally leaving fired-clay unglazed. I want viewers/participants to understand that I am turning soil into rocks, a process that cannot be reversed or recycled. I am an artist making permanent objects that become performative with action.

My work addresses the time and space of now. Political in nature, a capitalist expression, environmentally conscious, I attempt at blending the history of the medium with my aesthetic–brutal yet refined, rough yet delicate. I work with artist’s hands as inspiration and subject: how they make, how they are the primary tool, the keeper of craftsmanship, and the actuator of intention.

I hold a design and a fine art practice as to not be stuck making one thing for the rest of my life. I execute both actuated concept and formulated function. I find sculpture is the poetry: making the everyday into the incredible, and the wares function as prose: making the extraordinary seemingly into something ordinary.

I am an artist, designer, and moderator of experience in both (and I hope you will laugh with me).

Artist

2017-
Male Glaze

2019
Consume: Handcrafting L.A. Restaurant Design, curated by Emily Zaiden, Craft in America Center, Los Angeles

2018
Alex Miller: Break Room, ArtMovement, Los Angeles
Peep!, curated by Bettina Hubby and Michael G. Bauer, Circus of Books, Los Angeles

2017
The Panacea Project, curated by Bettina Hubby, Los Angeles

2016
Breakables, The Institute of New Feeling: Felt Book
Stick It to The Man, at the Simple Simples comedy show

2014
House of Modern Horrors, 1431 Armacost Ave, Los Angeles
Artists' Books and Cookies, 356 Mission/Ooga Twooga, Los Angeles

2013
Photo Op: art to pose with, ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Artists' Books and Cookies, 356 Mission/Ooga Twooga, Los Angeles

2012
Brain Melt, curated by Hannah Deutsch, A Gathering of Tribes, New York
Queer Pile-Up, organized by Darin Klein, ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. , Los Angeles
The Planter Show, ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. , Los Angeles
The Mulholland Dérive, organized by Stephen van Dyck, Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles

2010
The Sketchbook Show, A Space Gallery, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

2005
Synergy Teen Art Exhibition, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA

Curatorial

2020
Craft in America: Made in L.A., co-curated with Emily Zaiden, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles

2018
The Circuitry of Joyce J. Scott: A Group Exhibition of Collaboration and Innovation, co-curated with Emily Zaiden, Craft in America Center, Los Angeles

2015
5 or Less Fest, Basic Flowers, Los Angeles

2013
Photo Op: art to pose with, ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles