Andrew Edlin Gallery is pleased to present Duplicates, a solo exhibition featuring Seattle-based painter Mark Takamichi Miller, September 21 – October 21, 2006. It is Miller's first solo exhibition both with the gallery and in New York.
Duplicates will include 11 large-scale paintings, the evolution of which began six years ago when Miller began purchasing anonymous duplicate snapshots from photo developing stores. The artist applies acrylic and latex paint in thick gobs, transforming the mundane snapshot images into dramatic, expressionistic portraits.
Though attaining the snapshots is initially invasive and voyeuristic, Miller safeguards the identities of the subjects by almost warping the images, obscuring the photographic details and rendering them "illegible".
The source for many of the images in Duplicates was stumbled upon when Miller mistyped a URL and discovered a retired New York policeman's Yahoo photos. The photos were mostly self-portraits mixed in with a few shots of missing person bulletins from NYC during the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
Mark Takamichi Miller has had over 20 solo exhibitions in the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and one at the University of California at Santa Cruz. His paintings have been shown at the Tacoma Art Museum (WA), the Bellevue Art Museum (WA) and Davenport Museum (Iowa) among other venues.