ESSAYS:
Judy Miller: Imaginary Dioramas - Exhibition Catalogue, Tucson Museum of Art
Foreword by Robert Knight, Executive Director, Tucson Museum of Art
Imagine Yoko Ono poised in front of an isolated Truth or Consequences, New Mexico strip mall, vapidly staring into space; or Woody Allen digitally frozen outside the legendary Wigwam Motel along Route 66. These images by Judy Miller immediately seduce, as much as from the gloss of their large-scale and impeccable photographic quality as they do for their representation of the rich and famous. Miller’s photographs capture a fantasy moment, a slice of fictional time, while the recognizable countenance of her subjects lure viewers into the mise en scène of her fabricated “stage” sets. Let’s face it, this is a nation where the cult of celebrity reigns supreme. Click here to read entire essay
Judy Miller: Imaginary Dioramas - Exhibition Catalogue, Tucson Museum of Art
Essay by Julie Sasse, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Photographing encapsulated moments from disparate places and piecing them together to create new realities, Judy Miller reveals the hidden flaws in human society, and in particular, the cult of celebrity. Her exacting montages in digital pigment prints speak not only about perception and veracity in photography, but also about our belief in the power of fame, the allure of wealth, and the hermetic qualities of uneasy spaces. In Miller’s worlds, each interior and exterior appears like a stage or movie set-as if a camera crew or audience occupies the same space as the viewer. The spectator serves as a witness or voyeur to a separate world, an alternate reality, much like the feeling when reading a fan magazine or tabloid. We accept such constructs, but we know we can only occupy them in our fantasies. Click here to read entire essay
Selected Works from Diorama Portfolio - Promotional Booklet
Essay by Ronn Spencer, a writer, a photographer, a designer and an unrepentant gadfly.
It is a rare occurrence when an artist unifies diverse and seemingly contradictory images with any degree of elegance or plausibility. When it does happen, it brings to mind Lautreamont’s oft-quoted line, “as beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting-table of a sewing-machine and an umbrella.”
That poetic circumstance, as desirable and beguiling as it may be, only succeeds in a skilled artist’s hands. Typically, it is a less appealing encounter--a messy collision of conflicting forms and ideas that rarely congeals into an understandable or persuasive whole.
Judy Miller’s work defies that pitfall. Each of the thoughtfully-chosen elements in her photographic works are engaged in a rich and provocative dialogue with every other. Miller’s vision is so precise, her craft so unerring, the viewer is easily beckoned into another reality.
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