Monya Rowe Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new paintings by Erin Milez titled Chimera. The opening reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, February 20, 6-8 PM.

For her second solo exhibition at Monya Rowe Gallery, Milez continues to examine the impact of motherhood and the complex changes - psychologically and physically - that accompany it. Milez says: “I see my feeling of metamorphosis reflected in various places: in Lucy Jones’ explanation of matrescence and becoming chimeras, “never being singular again”, even on a genetic level; in Tetsuya Ishida’s work, though his embodies a more hopeless and dehumanized transformation in laboring tasks; in Nightbitch where Amy Adams is transformed into a dog because of the primal and physical demands of creation and mothering.”

Goodnight, lion (2024) is a spirited examination of a bedtime routine between parent and child. Milez playfully likens the crib to doubling as a zoo cage and the parents acting as zookeepers. The wild animals depicted on the child’s pajamas further hint at a caged creature and a humidifier dispensing steam evokes clouds complicating whether this could actually be outside rather than in a child’s bedroom. The father, barely visible underneath the child and toys, reaches for a cell phone (Is he trapped too?), while the other hand comforts his sleepy daughter. For this body of work, Milez intentionally incorporated a father to act as a mothering figure. The art historical canon widely depicts men in posed portraits rather than being identified with the labor associated with fatherhood. The nurturing roles have been historically prescribed to the mother.

In Milez’s paintings, events from daily life are reconstructed to emphasize mundane tasks that resemble elaborate juggling acts of responsibility. The paintings capture intimacy, struggle and personal reflection. The idea of completing or succeeding in parenting is itself a chimera. Occupying a space somewhere between chaos and nurture, Milez observes the complicated and continually changing dynamics between family members and self. The artists’ rich color palette emphasizes drama and conflict. Milez is not afraid to portray the seemingly monstrous, but it is never gratuitous and always mitigated by beauty and reality.

Erin Milez (b. 1994, Pittsburgh, PA) received a MFA from New York Academy of Art, NY and a BA from Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA. Her work has recently been exhibited at Lorin Gallery, LA; Arsenal Contemporary Art, NY; Cob Gallery, London; Kutlesa Gallery, Switzerland and Monya Rowe Gallery. Milez was awarded an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant in 2021 and 2024. The artist lives and works in Seattle, WA and is represented by Monya Rowe Gallery.