Steve Miller
"Tulips", 1995
1995

About the Item

A lovely bundle of tulips takes on a skeletal quality in this X-ray photograph by Steve Miller. The delicate, transparent petals of the tulip flowers are contrasted by the wiry constraint of the string holding the bouquet together. The stems and outline of the flowers take on a brush-stroke quality that is disclosed to the viewer through this X-ray technique. While all photography arrests motion, it is only the X-ray that allows us to climb inside a particular moment and subject and parse the structure of its beauty from within. Miller’s work lifts the lid off a hidden domain, revealing the stilled and remarkable innards of things we pass by every day. Orchid bulbs perch on lacy roots, music thrums from a plucked string, a foot punches a ball into the air. Miller removes plants, musical instruments, and soccer balls from their usual context and fixes them under the omniscient, scrutinizing eye of the digital X-ray. The inner world rises to the outer. Smoky, ethereal tulips bend, mid-wilt; seeds nestle within nearly invisible pods; the guitar’s translucent body rests in its case, snug as if in an ancient sarcophagus. Miller distills all action, feeling, and process so that only the essential remains, and in carefully rendered black, white, and film-noir gray, the essential is both clinical and glamorous. What was hidden is now revealed, and the empty space within his subjects speaks to their potential fullness. At the same time, that new vision brings with it an unsettling awareness of our own inner workings, our fundamental material essence, and ultimately, our human susceptibility to the processes of time. In the past 25 years, Steve Miller has presented 31 solo exhibitions at major institutions in the United States, China, France, and Germany. His exhibitions have been reviewed in Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, ArtForum, ARTnews, and Art in America. Miller was one of the first artists to experiment with computers in the early 1980’s, and his work today continues to integrate science and technology with fine art. Listing is for UNFRAMED print. Inquire within for framing. Edition 1 of 12. If the exhibition piece is sold or the customer orders a different print size, the photograph is produced upon purchase. Please allow two weeks for production. Shipping time depends on method of shipping. Price is subject to availability. The Robin Rice Gallery reserves the right to adjust this price depending on the current edition of the photograph. Abstract, botanical, black and white, flowers, tulip, x-ray, botany, still life

Creator:
Steve Miller (1951, American)
Creation Year:
1995
Dimensions:
Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)Width: 37 in (93.98 cm)
Medium:
Archival Paper
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
1990-1999
Framing:
Framing Options Available
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Hudson, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: G11012711126
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