Works By Stuart McAlpine Miller

There’s no denying that his wry observations on the cult of the Z-lister et al speak volumes and add colour and splendour to our unspoken words and thoughts on this subject, and it’s very much a departure from what else is going on in the ‘contemporary’ art world right now.

But what of the man behind the brush? Well, McAlpine Miller has only fairly recently caught the imagination of the everyday art lover and seasoned collector, having spent the past 20 years plying his trade on graduating from the Glasgow School of Art.

You could easily visualize any one of his recent pieces being lifted by Rimmel or Gap to sell a ‘lifestyle value’ product, and we wouldn’t be at all alarmed to see Kate Moss punctuate any one of McAlpine Miller’s studies. Only blatantly in a tongue-in-cheek fashion you understand. Indeed, McAlpine Miller shows a wilful insistence on supplanting uber cool, achingly hip supermodel-esque women over vividly coloured cartoons in an illusionary world of nostalgic comic book characters. His paintings have a voyeuristic quality to them. You might, perhaps feel sullied after viewing them; however one thing you will feel is cheered. And quite possibly, moved.

Again, McAlpine Miller himself is best placed to describe what he hopes we sense on being confronted with his mesmerising images. “Surreal in feel, hidden dangers appear to lurk beneath the surface, as pop images jump off the canvas and the optical illusion strikes”. And yes, there’s a degree of Pop Art throwback-ism here. A word which doesn’t exist, but encapsulates what we mean to the heavily pixelated letter. And McAlpine Miller’s detailing is immense, and echoes Warhol and Lichtenstein’s, more of which to follow. With his adaptation of oils taking on the precision form of watercolours is a skill that he’s been honing for the past decade or so, and is essentially an illusionary technique that enlists the positioning of colour and light to succeed. The oils proffer McAlpine Miller this computer generated feel, which sits comfortably with the whole ambience of his retro-dynamic pieces. Shockingly, McAlpine Milller’s only been layering these cartoon images in the last two years, and the finished effect is mightily impressive.

The painted effects of transparency are blended to perfection with this invisible opaque layering which mimics a computer screen to create this utterly unique study, which also sees an introduction of appropriate typography and date-savvy fonts to effortlessly transport the viewer, quite literally, back to the future. Yet the immediate focal point is wrestled by Amazonian women, some recognizable, some not, some iconic, some nameless, who are superimposed over innocent children’s cartoon book characters and images of yore.

McAlpine Miller’s enjoyed mass exposure courtesy of recent exhibitions across Europe and America, which has seen his themes and visions go down a storm, whilst his latest venture sees him installed as artist-in-residence at London’s Savoy hotel. To the uninitiated of course, roles which both Whistler and Monet were invited to take up in the past. And what a setting to showcase his intuitive, refreshingly modern pot shots at the idiosyncrancies and transient fame of here and now, amid a towering Art Deco backdrop. Iconic women of past, glamorous times will look down on hotel guests, such as Monroe and Taylor in such a fitting surround, according to McAlpine Miller.

So which artists does McAlpine Miller draw inspiration from? Aside from Caravaggio and Bosch, he believes that he’s been heavily influenced by Andy Warhol, and his underlying beliefs that art should depict themes that people can relate to, yet ultimately stand the rigours of time and remain relevant 10, 20, 30 years later. Which we believe will ring true of McAlpine Miller’s.