About
Judy Millar
b.1957, Auckland, New Zealand
Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand and Berlin, Germany
Judy Millar, who represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2009, has an internationally recognised painting practice. Working from a conceptual painting framework she freely references painting's recent histories, particularly delighting in plundering the expressiveness of gestural painting. Working with processes of erasure, wiping or scraping paint off the surface of the work, Millar takes up known positions only to deconstruct and question their previous meanings.
Millar's work, both intensely physical and highly mediated, questions the subjectivity of the artist as its seemingly empty gestures loop and swirl comically across the canvases' surface. Continuing the instability and ambivalences present in the work these evacuated gestures fail to gel into singular images. Questioning the hierarchy of "thing" and "field" they present images in an uncertain state of either, perpetually coming undone, or emerging; a world of endless unfixed potential.
In 1991 Millar received an Italian Government Scholarship for Postgraduate Study in Turin, Italy. In 1994 she was the Moet and Chandon Fellow in France and in 2002 was awarded the paramount winner of the Wallace Art Awards, New Zealand. During 2004 Millar completed a Goethe Institute residency in Berlin and was also artist in residence at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Millar's career has seen her work exhibited in Australia, China, the U.S.A., Germany, and Switzerland and extensively in New Zealand. Her work has been exhibited at international art fairs such as Art Basel, Art Cologne, Zoo London, Shanghai, and the Melbourne Art Fair. In 2006 Judy Millar became the first recipient of the Colin McCahon residency and in 2008 Millar was announced as New Zealand's2009 Venice Biennale representative. Collections include Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Christchurch Art Gallery Dunedin, Public Art Gallery, Auckland Art Gallery, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland, CAP Art, Dublin. Judy Millar is represented in numerous national and international private collections.
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
Master of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
1991 Post Graduate Studies, undertaken at Academia Albertina - Turin, Italy
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009 Giraffe-Bottle-Gun at the Venice Biennale, La Maddelena,Venice, Italy
New Works 2008-09, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2008 Matte Black. Galerie Mark Mueller, Zurich, Switzerland
2007 Butter for the Fish, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Keeping You You Keeping Me Me, Lopdell House Gallery, Auckland
2005 I will, should, can, must, may, would like to express, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Recent Painting, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Here Eyes Are Hell, Galerie Mark Mller, Zurich, Switzerland
Flammpunkt with Sophia Schama, Spielhaus-Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Veils, Trails and Horses Tails, Bartley Nees Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2004 Open Hand, 64zero3, Christchurch
To the Is-ness, Galerie Mark Muller, Zurich, Switzerland
The Shooting Gallery, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand
Id Like Painting, Gow Langsford Gallery Auckland, New Zealand
2003 I is She, as You to Me, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
The brush moves this way, the brush moves that, Bartley Nees Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2002 Dont call me baby, baby, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
The Shape of a Curve, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney, Australia
The Year I was Born and the Year I was Born, Again, Blockland Projects, Auckland, New Zealand
2001 New Paintings, Bartley Nees Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1999 Scary Sunsets and Other Views, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1998 Seam, Campbell Grant Galleries, Christchurch, New Zealand
1997 Solid Body, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Mask, New Works Studio, Wellington, New Zealand
1996 Strip, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1995 Window Window, Collaboration with Vicki Kerr, New Work Studio, Wellington, New Zealand
Beast, Collaboration with Vicki Kerr, Teststrip, Auckland, New Zealand
1994 The Past and Future Perfect, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1990 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1989 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1988 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1987 Aberhart North Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1986 Aberhart North Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1981 On the Line, 100m2, Auckland, New Zealand
1980 Making Tracks, 100m2, Auckland, New Zealand
Selected Group Shows
2011 Driven to Abstraction, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Personal Structures: Time Place Existence, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
The Ring, Rohkunstbau, Berlin, Germany
2009 John Leech and Gow Langsford Galleries Spring Catalogue Exhibition 2009, Gow Langsford Gallery
2008 John Leech and Gow Langsford Galleries Spring Catalogue Exhibition 2008, Gow Langsford Gallery
Clock the Ton, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Edges of Darkness, Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany
abstrakt, Krammig & Pepper Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2007 Telecom Prospect 2007, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
PX: A Purposeless Production, A Necessary Praxis, St Paul St Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
The Secret Life of Paint, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Gow Langsford Gallery at the LA Art Show, Los Angeles
2006 Pittura Fresca, Spielhaus-Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Spielhaus-Morrison Galerie at Vienna Art Fair, Vienna, Germany
Gow Langsford Gallery at Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, Australia
2005 Judy Millar and Katharina Grosse, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Devils Punchbowl, Chris Grimes Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2004 IS/NZ, Kunstverein Kreis Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany
Sticky, Randolph Street Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2003 Fragmente des Paradieses, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, Switzerland
2002 Resisting Colour, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Past Presents, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Memos For The Next Millennium, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, Mark Mller Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
Three Auckland Painters, Campbell Grant Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
2001 The Contingency of Vision, Goodman-Suter Contemporary Art Project, The Suter, Nelson, New Zealand (touring exhibition 2001-2002)
Screens, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1999 Leap of Faith, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
1998 Achromatic, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1997 Skirting Abstraction, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
1996 The Second Asia- Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
1995 A Very Peculiar Practice, Aspects of Recent New Zealand painting, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Review, A Survey of Some Recent Works exhibited by Auckland Artists, Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Taking Stock of the 90s, Sarjeant Gallery 75th Anniversary Exhibition, Wanganui, New Zealand
1994 Parallel Lines, Gordon Walters in Context, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1993 Femmes Vitales, Suffrage Centennial Exhibition, Hawkes Bay Museum, Napier, New Zealand
The Dinner Plate Show, Fisher Gallery, Auckland
Artiture, Aotea Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
1992 The Carnivalesque Body, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Surface Tension, Ten Artists in the 90s, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1990 100m2 A Ten Year Survey, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
1988 Small Works, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1983 Team McMillan Art Award, ASA Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1982 Four Elam Graduates, ASA Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1980 Women in the Arts, Outreach Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Residencies
2007 McCahon Arts Residency, McCahon House, French Bay, Auckland
Public Lectures
2003 Visiting Artists Lecture, Dunedin Public Art Gallery
1997 Artists Profile Series, Lecture with Jude Rae, Auckland Art Gallery
1994 Lecture in conjunction with A Very Peculiar Practice, City Gallery, Wellington
1993 Invited lecturer to members of Architectural Association, University of Auckland
1992 Public Lecture in conjunction with Surface Tension exhibition, Auckland City Art Gallery
1992 Lecture at Auckland Society of Arts
Awards and Scholarships
Goethe Institute Language Scholarship 2003
Creative New Zealand Grant 2003
Dunedin Public Art Gallery Visiting Artist 2003
Winner James Wallace Awards 2002
Winner Tokoroa Art Award 1990
Holder of Italian Government Scholarship for Post Graduate Study in Turin, Italy 1991
Mot and Chandon New Zealand Art Foundation Fellowship Avize, France 1994
Travel Grant to New York, France, Germany, New Zealand Arts Council, 1994
Collections
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki
Dunedin Public Gallery
Wallace Arts Trust
Private Collections - New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Germany
Selected Bibliography
Amery, Mark, Painting for the mind and eye,
Amery, Mark Masks from Elsewhere, Evening Post, Wellington, November 12th 1997
Barton, Christine Framing the Real - Post modern discourses in New Zealand Art, Headlands Catalogue ed. Mary Barr, 1992
Byrt, Anthony Sticky, Ramp Press/Whitecliffe, 2004
Byrt, Anthony, Judy Millar: How to Paint Backwards, Gow Langsford Gallery, 2003
Cumming, S Fresh Tension, Stamp magazine, October 1992
Dale, Richard Abstraction Resited, Art New Zealand, 66, 1992
Dale, Richard Large Paintings, New Zealand Herald, June 1990
Daly-Peoples, John, Winning artwork uses primitive expressionism, The National Business Review, September 13, 2002, p51
Emmerling, L. (edt) Judy Millar: YOU YOU ME ME, Kerber Art, Germany 2009
Emmerling, L. (edt.) Giraffe-Bottle-Gun: Judy Millar, published on occasion of the 53rd Venice Biennale 2009. Kerber Art, Germany, 2009
Emmerling, Leonhard, Keeping You You, Keeping Me Me; Judy Millars Gesture, Lopdell House, 2007
French, Blair Gordon Walters - Parallel Lines: Gordon Walters in context, World Art, January 1995
Gerig, Karen. Nur Schoenheit Allein Taught zu Wenig. Review, Basler Zeitung, September, 2003
Greenstein, M.A. Second Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, World Art, No.12, 1997
Hanflin, Richard, Exhibitions/Auckland, Art New Zealand, Summer, 2005/2006, p34-35
Herrick, Linda, Destination: world for Wallace Art Award winner, The New Zealand Herald, Monday September 9, 2002
Kalina, Richard, Report from New Zealand: A Change of Empires, Art in America, no.9, October, 2005, pp83-89
Leigh, Sarah Surface Tension, Craccum, September 1992
Leonard, Robert, I will, should, can, must, may, would like like to express, Auckland Art Gallery News, 2005
Lister, A, Review of New Paintings at Bartley Nees Gallery, Art New Zealand, No 101, p. 33, 2001
Lonie, Bridie, Childs Play: Judy Millars I is she, as you to me, Art New Zealand, 2003
McAloon, William Veering Distinctly towards the line New Zealand Listener, May 3, 2003
McNamara, T.J. New Zealand Herald, Review, 21 August 1996
Smith, Allen The Past and Future Perfect, Art and Text, 50, 1995
McNamara, T.J., The galleries: Spirit-lifting work offers excitement by the yard, The New Zealand Herald, 14 April, 2004
McNamara, T.J. The Carnivalesque Body, New Zealand Herald, December 1992
McNamara, T.J. Emerging Themes from the Young and the Restless, New Zealand Herald, September 1992
?m2 - a ten year survey, Tension Magazine, June 1990
McNamara, T.J. Review of Gow Langsford show, New Zealand Herald, 1988
McNamara, T.J. Review of Aberhart North show, New Zealand Herald, 1987
Womens art for arts sake, New Zealand Star, 1980
McNamara, T.J. Brick Walls in the Gallery', New Zealand Herald, 1980
Ossher, Ian (edt.)Notions of Mortality, Lino, No. 2, 2003.
Paton, Justin. I is She as You to Me, Dunedin Public Art Gallery catalogue, 2003
Pauli, Dorothee, Art Reviews: Brief Notion, The Press, Christchurch, February 6, 2002, p36
Pound, Frances Walters as Translator, Midwest, 3, 1993
Shand, Peter The Contingency of Vision The Goodman-Suter Contemporary Art Project, 2001, pg 36
Shand, Peter If I Were Penelope... Art New Zealand, 90, Winter 1999
Smith, Allan Judy Millar: as light as in-between Judy Millar, catalogue, Gow Langsford Gallery, 1998
Smith, Allan Skirting Abstraction - skepticism and sensibility, Art New Zealand, 82, Autumn 1997
Smith, Allen and Leigh Davis, A Very Peculiar Practice - aspects of recent New Zealand Painting, City Gallery, Wellington, 1995
Turner, Caroline and Rhona Devonport (ed.) The Second Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, 1996
Were, Virginia, Shaky Gesturalism, Art News, Summer, 2002, pp44-45
White, Alice Women Artists take their share of the glare, Herald Tribune, 7th November, 1993