Material, action, trace. In a myriad of ways and with a diverse range of tools, Judy Millar applies and removes paint in order to explore embodied acts of making and how these enact particular forms of consciousness. With a palette made up of unexpected combinations of colour, Millar often plays with the tension between background and foreground. Directional strokes move in and out of nebulous clouds, blocks and intensities of hue. Painting at the service of gestures, for Millar space becomes a surface to be painted, one which can grow, extend and occupy built environments. Taking up space, works by Millar are often large-scale, engaging with installation they dwarf those who encounter them, acting as a reminder that people belong to gestures and that painting can be a shift away from the self.
Millar graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1983. In 2009 Millar was selected to represent New Zealand at the 53rd Venice Biennale where she exhibited Giraffe-Bottle-Gun at the New Zealand pavilion. Sharing time between studios in Berlin, Germany and Anawhata in Aotearoa, Millar has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally for more than three decades. Recent solo exhibitions include: Cry Sea, Cry Sky, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington (2024); Questions I have Asked Myself, Galerie Mark Mueller, Zurich, Switzerland (2022); Action Movie, City Gallery, Wellington (2021); The Future and the Past Perfect, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland (2019) and Rock Drop, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2017). Her work has been included in group presentations: Spotlight, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2023–2024); huikaau: where currents meet, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (2024); Against the Logic of War: 5th Kyiv Biennial, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna (2023); ja, fürwahr, ihr zeigt uns Träume, wie die Brust sie kaum begreift, Galerie Mark Mueller, Zurich (2023); Frozen Gesture, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (2019); Unpainting – Contemporary Abstraction, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2017); Movements Towards Formation, Kustquartier Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2015) and Cinema and Painting, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington (2014).
