Why buy contemporary art by Harland Miller

Harland Miller art has a reputation for dodging copyright lawsuits, exhibiting at some of the most prestigious galleries in Europe and the US, and doubling its auction estimates. Here at Maddox Gallery, we’re honoured to represent Miller, and introduce his work to visitors who are looking to buy contemporary art. In our mind, he is one of the top emerging artists to watch this year.

Born in Yorkshire in 1964, Harland Miller spent his early life travelling the world, spending time living in Paris, Berlin and New York. In 1992, Miller settled in the newly reunified Berlin, perhaps inspired by similar motifs as fellow Maddox artist Michael Moebius.

In 1996 Miller finally returned to the UK, going on to study Art History at the Chelsea College of Art in 1998. Here, he developed a unique artistic style influenced by Pop Art, Abstraction, Figuratism, and a deep exploration of “the disconnect between representation and reality.”

However, painting isn’t Miller’s only artistic passion. In 2000, Miller achieved critical acclaim for his debut novel Slow Down Arthur, Stick to Thirty. He became the Boston ICA’s writer in residence shortly after in 2002.

Turning literature into art

All books need a good title, and Harland Miller uses his literary talent to complement his art.

Inspired by the iconic orange and white Penguin book jackets of the 1950s and 1960s, he set about creating his own unique titles. Miller uses oil paints to create photorealistic artworks, which even include the occasional dog-eared page, tea stain or tear along the spine.

However, the traditional and reputable titles usually published by the Penguin brand are replaced with alternate satirical titles, such as This Is Where It’s Fuckin At and Don’t Let The Bastards Cheer You Up. Miller usually names himself as author, but sometimes plays on the name of other authors. Examples include Animal Husbandry — Charles Buckowski, and All Alien Orders — Aldous Huxley.

Taking inspiration from literary classics

Harland Miller art reinterprets an iconic brand, and initially the artist had concerns that Penguin would pursue a lawsuit based on copyright infringement. However, the book publisher never sued — in fact, Penguin chose to buy contemporary art by Harland Miller to feature in its corporate art collection.

“There are lots of aspects to the Penguin classic that inspire me visually,” Miller once explained in an interview. “I love it as a colour field.”

“One of my favourite artists is Rothko. If you look at a lot of Rothko, when he got into the maroon phase he was dealing with a lot of oranges and this redness of orange.”

Miller has also shared his beliefs on the choice of a penguin as the publishing house’s logo. “The intention was to bring books to ‘the people’ — to cheapen the erudite and elitist stuff into looking less intimidating.”

“Penguins seem to share this ‘all in it together’ trait, with their thousand-strong hug, and they appear to have, or we ascribe to them, characteristics we like to think of as human.”

Meanwhile, the Pelican was chosen as the logo for the non-fiction branch of Penguin, as these books “were essay-based, addressing social problems, like a bird swooping over a landscape.”

Making history with new titles

In 2016, Miller moved away from Penguin books and created a new series of works, using his own book cover designs inspired by 1960s and 1970s pop psychology books. Titles include: Overcoming Optimism, Back on the Worry Beads, Health and Safety is Killing Bondage, and I’ll Never Forget What I Can’t Remember.

The same titles were often reinterpreted in different designs and sizes, “demonstrating how form and colour relationships can change the way in which titles are interpreted,” explained the Blain Gallery, where these works were exhibited in Miller’s first solo exhibition, Tonight We Make History (P.S. I Can’t Be There).

“Interspersed between the larger paintings, a number of smaller works act like punctuation marks.”

Why buy contemporary art by Harland Miller?

“Demand for Harland Miller prints has hugely increased in the last six months,” Joe Syer of MyArtBroker recently told Flux Magazine. “This Is Where Its Fuckin At, for example, is one of the most requested — so there have been some strong auction results, as well as a few low edition releases.”

In fact, This Is Where It’s Fucking At achieved one of Miller’s most successful auction results. Selling at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Fair in 2016 for £75,000, the painting more than doubled its estimate of £20,000–30,000.

Similarly, Philips Auction House saw I’m So Fuckin Hard (Ernest Hemmingway) estimated at £20,000–30,000, and sold for £50,000, while Ignore All Alien Orders — Aldous Huxley was estimated at £25,000–35,000, and sold for £60,000.

Despite this trend of doubling estimate prices, Harland Miller art can be found at well under £10,000. Syer stresses, “it’s still possible to pick something up for a fairly reasonable price.”

If you’re looking to buy contemporary art, and want to invest in Harland Miller, get in touch with Maddox Gallery. Our Sotheby’s-trained art consultants are on hand to provide expert advice, and explain more about contemporary art investment.

Written by James Nicholls, Managing Director and Curator, Maddox Gallery.