WHITE CUBE HOXTON SQUARE IS CLOSING! Crazy,
right!? Well, I checked out the venue’s final exhibit and it was fantastic!
Until the 22nd December, when the doors of this legendary gallery
shut forever, the gallery will be exhibiting the works of Harland Miller. The
show, The Next Life’s On Me, features
a selection of paintings that resemble old book covers.
From figurative covers featuring
tongue-in-cheek titles, to Miller’s appropriation of the marbled covers of old-fashioned
Penguin poetry editions, the ground floor space engulfs the viewer with these
oversized book covers. The marbled paintings are painted on walnut with
luxurious metallic paints, exuding luxury and standing up as beautiful art
objects, as well as demonstrating Miller’s stellar talent in painting. Miller
achieves this stunning marble effect by thinning paint and working on the floor
in the way that Jackson Pollock does. With made-up titles gracing Miller’s book
covers, the works raised a smile on my face and made me want to immediately
call up the bank, acquire the works, and hang them up in my living room!
On the first floor, Miller exhibits three
paintings that immediately grabbed me. Darker in style with skull motifs
gracing the bottoms of the works, amber and black dominating the palette, and humorous slogans such as ‘Fetish or Die,
is health and safety killing bondage?’, I immediately loved the works and the
three complimentary paintings seemed to epitomize the grunge of Hoxton – the area
that so many people see as being transformed by the opening of the illustrious
gallery in 2000.
A fabulous show, and a fitting end to a
gallery that drastically altered the face of London’s art scene…
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