John Miller | An Elixir of Immortality

An Elixir of Immortality – a long overdue Berlin survey of the work of the internationally acclaimed artist, critic and musician John Miller. This comprehensive show covers Miller’s output from the 1980s to the present, demonstrating his astute, witty, and at times poignant commentary on the notions of identity, figuration, economics, social class, and value of art.

 

The central element of the exhibition is an installation of monumental golden ruins Mourning for a World of Rubbish (2020), featuring a new element referencing the large granite bowl in Berlin’s Lustgarten, that in turn was based on Nero’s so-called Golden Bowl in Rome. 

 

His pseudo social-realist paintings, Middle of the Day– photographs, collages, reliefs, and sculptures covered in feces-like brown impasto or gold are emblematic of Miller’s ironic and uncompromising approach. An Elixir of Immortality manifests this aesthetic eclecticism and his abiding interest in his immediate surroundings, a sensibility which continues to influence young generations of artists in Germany, the United States, and elsewhere.