PAST PROJECT

Elliot Miller (1942 - 2003)

A Miami native, Elliot Miller shared various studio spaces with Robert Thiele in Opa Locka, North Miami, and eventually Brooklyn, New York from 1976 until Miller's untimely death in 2003. Miller's medium was wood, with which he worked with an unbridled energy, roughing out large blocks with a chainsaw and finishing with chisels and traditional woodworking tools. He also developed a laminating process in which smaller pieces were glued and pieced together to form larger works.

Earlier works from his time in Miami include semi-abstract pieces which evolved to highly finished, mostly female figures during his later Miami period. The move to Brooklyn and an altogether urban setting in 1991, allowed his late period to flourish. Paradoxically, during his time in the city, he became interested in carving woodland creatures including marmots, hares, bears, possums, and domesticated cats. These later works have not been seen since his death in 2003.

Miller earned his BFA from Florida Atlantic University, and his MFA from the University of Oregon in Eugene. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Frost Museum at Florida International University, the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, the University of Oregon Museum of Art, and Miami Dade College's Permanent Collection. Miller's solo exhibitions include shows at O.K. Harris Gallery in New York and the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridge Hampton, New York.

Bridge Red Studios/Project Space is honored to present a selection of his seminal late works alongside examples from his Miami period.