Interview with Liz Miller
Liz Miller, who recently visited Denver and filled David B. Smith Gallery with a lively installation, agreed to do an interview with me about her process. Here is what we discovered.
Becky Jewell: Your installation at David B. Smith was conducted with Clyfford
Still in mind. Have you done other installations like this? Do your
installations often take inspiration from artists or sites?
Liz Miller: The work of other artists is certainly inspiring to me, but is not usually a direct source of inspiration for my installations. I am much more likely to find inspiration in non-art sources. I’ve recently been fascinated with weapons, and many of my projects over the past year have been inspired by guns, swords, knives, and other weapon forms. The simultaneous beauty and violence of these objects intrigues me. Through the use of their simple, elegant silhouettes, I play with people’s perceptions.
Using Clyfford Still’s work as a point of departure was a real change of pace from my weapon-related projects, but I feel that I found a way to create a Still-inspired work that has personal resonance for me. The asymmetry of Still’s forms, along with the gestural undulations in paint, create a sense of energy and movement. But there is also aggression in Still’s forms,and that combination of beauty and agitation fits in quite well with my current interests.I tried to utilize some of the shapes, colors, and layering in Still’s work and to bring them into play in my own work.
B: If you could do an installation with ANY artist in mind, which
artist would it be? Where would it be?
Liz: I would try to choose someone whose work is very different from my own. I actually think Still fits the bill quite well, but there are many other artists who could also be a good match. It seems almost impossible to assign myself an artist, because when you do that you are choosing consciously based on the parameters you set. I think this kind of thing works best as a surprise, where someone assigns an artist to you–which is why the Still project was so wonderful for me. I was forced to grapple with something unexpected! The same holds true for location. I know it sounds like I am dodging the question, but really, it’s the truth.
B: Who or what inspires you most to do art? What artists are you
looking at right now?
Liz: I am inspired by materials, by process, by experimentation. There are so many ways to be inspired, but for me, the biggest inspiration is being in my studio with a bunch of materials and just playing. I’ve been fortunate to travel quite a bit lately, too. A recent trip to Washington, D.C allowed me to study weapons and military uniforms at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I’m constantly collecting imagery that might make its way into new projects.
The artists I look at are quite varied. You never know what is going to be influential, or how, or when. So I try to take as much in as possible. Lately I’ve been excited about the work of Katherina Grosse. I love her aggressive, sculptural method of painting. There is such a wonderful scale and physicality to it, but it’s also breathtakingly beautiful. In general, I am excited about artists who are pushing boundaries and using materials in new and dynamic ways.
B: How did you arrive at industrial foam as a medium? It looks
fantastic. Did your process lead you to this material, or did the
material create the process? Or is it more complicated than that …?
Liz: My use of industrial felt grew out of a love of tactile, non-art materials. I have utilized all different sorts of materials in my installations in the past (felt, foam, vinyl, flexible plastics), but there are some qualities of felt the make it really perfect for what I’m doing. It is a material that has so many different associations. It is, on one hand, a very soft craft material. But it also has many applications in industry. And it is both high-brow and low-brow. Although it seems delicate, it is very strong–while it looks somewhat similar to paper, it is so much stronger!
In terms of content, I love the fact that I can reference weapons or other sinister imagery in a material that is so non-weapon-like!
I think my use of materials always grows out of my process. I like to play with materials until something clicks, and then I just run with it.
Be sure to check out Liz Miller's website at www.lizmiller.com
Becky Jewell, January 23rd 2012
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