Glenn Miller is a landscape and figurative artist whose creative practice consists of oil painting, pen and ink, photo-manipulation based digital art and video.
He was born in country Queensland, Australia. He has participated in group and solo shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, New York and Paris. His works are held in private, public and corporate art collections in Australia and overseas, including Perpetual Trustees, Sydney; a large canvas titled 'Christmas Eve', now held in a private collection in Melbourne, formerly hung at the Crown Casino.
He spent his early childhood on a cattle property surrounded by rugged granite ranges, which instilled in him an indelible love for the landscape. He received his first box of oils at age nine and immediately began painting huge bluegums and ironbarks.
He began his art studies under Frank De Silva at the Royal Queensland Art Society in Brisbane, 1980. His much admired mentor shared and encouraged his passion for the landscape. He attended the Queensland College of Art, 1981-82, with the acclaimed colourist, John Rigby, being among his tutors.
On leaving art college, he worked for many years as a graphic artist in the printing industry. He was a supporter of and did volunteer illustration and graphic art work for the Antarctic Protection Society. During this time, he met and exhibited with Jim Edwards.
He was selected as a finalist in the Bicentennial Art Awards, held at the School of Arts, Brisbane, 1988. He was successful at numerous regional art competitions, including the winning of the Bundaberg City Council Art Award in 1988 and 1993. His controversial 'Girl on the Beach' made the front page of the Bundaberg News Mail the day after being given the 1988 award and is now held in the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.
In 1994, he met the New York artist and gallery director, Tim Slowinski, who arranged his first solo exhibition and spoke highly of the works by the first Australian artist to be featured at his Manhattan gallery.
In the following year, his Wynne Prize entry was selected for the 'Salon Des Refuses', held at the S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney; an exhibition which attracted over 5,000 visitors.
He exhibited widely over the next few years, his works gradually gaining the interest of both corporate and private collectors.
In 1998, he received an invitation to exhibit in the Tattersal's Landscape Art Prize, Brisbane, which at that time was an invitational competition. He organised delivery for his entry prior to travelling south, living for six months at Bellingen, northern NSW, where he attended a weekly life drawing workshop which included the acclaimed landscape artist, Kasey Sealy.
On returning to Queensland in 1999, he set up a studio at his Gympie residence, being captivated by a magnificent view of approaching ranges.
In 2000, a number of paintings held by his Melbourne agent were selected by Channel Nine to be used in the filming of an episode of 'Stingers'.
In 2003, he accepted an invitation to exhibit at Soho Galleries in Sydney after a break of five years. Following a successful show, he undertook a trip to the Cania Gorge near the town of Monto, where he was born. Here, he produced many sketches and took a large number of photographs of the narrow corridor of lush growth that had always fascinated him.
On returning to his studio, he worked intensely on committing the entire experience to canvas. His exhibition of these works opened to a packed gallery in Sydney in 2004.
In 2012, he was a finalist in the Glover Prize, one of Australia's most significant awards for landscape painting, which is open to national and international artists. It is awarded annually for the work judged the best contemporary landscape painting of Tasmania.
He was a semi-finalist in the 2013 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, which was judged by Ben Quilty. He was a semi-finalist again in 2015 with his portrait of high profile Gold Coast lawyer, novelist, award winning screen writer and filmmaker, Chris Nyst.
Glenn is broadly interested in the landscape, portraiture and the nude, preferring to work in oils on Belgian linen when painting. He is inspired by the works of Paul Gauguin, while his nudes show subtle references to Caravaggio and the old masters as well as the works of Willem De Kooning and Rainer Fetting; all of whom are greatly admired by the artist and have been very influential in the development of his own style.
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