Edward Cella Art & Architecture is proud to present Brad Miller: Stones and Object Relations Theory, the artist’s second exhibition with the gallery.

Miller describes his work: “Think about all of the things you find in the city, or at the beach, here in Los Angeles, all the things, the rocks and cracks in the sidewalk, the natural things trying reclaim the city and world that is theirs and we layer over it, over and over.” Recalling this frenzied energy from his Venice Beach studio, Miller physically interacts with his work, applying layers of slip and paint, firing, torching, sanding, tumbling, and grinding away layers. This gradual process reveals their temporary condition as objects that change according to the needs of the those who use them. Employing methods of abstract expressionism and conceptualism, Miller orchestrates accidents to build forms that mirror found stones, and paintings that could be sculptures in an exacting manner. He says, “I want to put more natural things back into the world, so I make these rocks and paintings the same way the earth does, with clay, and pigments and dirt and energy.”

Brad Miller received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Oregon, Eugene. Using wood, ceramics, and paper for both their physical and conceptual properties, Miller is interested in capturing organic systems through the creation of abstract representations. Miller has had solo exhibitions at Harvey Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO; Edward Cella Art & Architecture, Los Angeles, CA; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR; Bellas Artes, Santa Fe, NM; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; and Campo S. Angelo, Venice, Italy. Group exhibitions include Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA; Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA; Houston Center for Crafts, Houston, TX; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; Pasadena City College Art Gallery, Pasadena, CA; and Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. He received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1994) and his work is included in the public collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Born in New York, NY in 1950, Brad Miller now lives and works in Venice Beach, CA.