ALI  MILLER

Gorky's Granddaughter Video Interview


Statement
Through saturated colors, high contrast, theatrics, and varied surface textures, my recent body of work, entitled Insatiable, examines the human condition and the relationship between happiness and expectations. How do we balance expectations with reality? What does it look like when we indulge our imagined moments, romances, or idealized scenarios? These questions reveal themselves through scrutinizing ideal compositions, color palettes, and techniques, while embracing a level of uncertainty, tension, experimentation, and obsession. The result of my process is a space more ornate and more beautiful than that which I inhabit. The cornucopia opulence is sometimes ecstatic and at others, a suffocating illusion. It is at once a stage for the extraordinary expectations I have for my life, and a space for contemplating the disparity between the real and the imagined.
 
In contrast to the rigorous process used to develop most of my work, my series of small works entitled, No Expectations, has allowed me to experiment in the art of letting go and shedding the conscious and unconscious rules we’ve been conditioned to follow. A cathartic release of the tensions and pressures implemented in my meticulously executed worlds, my freedom with paint in this body of work proves that joy can be found in the unexpected. By experiencing both processes, I am able to integrate these elements into all of my work in a delicate balance of control and chaos.