Peter Miller

I am a New Zealand based artist, born and bred in New Zealand, and probably best known in my country as a realist still life painter (see book- Seen This Century, 100 contemporary New Zealand artists, a collector’s guide- by Warwick Brown).

I spent two years at art school, receiving a Diploma in Visual Arts, but left due to gallery interest in my work and have been working predominately as a full-time artist since that time (approx. 20 years). I have exhibited frequently nationally during this time and have been a frequent finalist in the premier national art awards, winning the Molly Morpeth Canaday art award in 2014, and have work in private collections, both local and international, including several in the Wallace Arts Trust collection (NZ).

Although better known as a still life artist, over time I have explored other ways of expressing myself in subject matter, and perhaps now my work can be classified within three or four different categories- still life, portraiture, narrative based paintings using the human figure, and within the last category environmental themed work, under the general title “Endangered Species”, based around native NZ birds and human interaction.

My work had its origins in the symbolism of the Dutch Vanitas painters but, although this remains as the foundation of my work and creative expression, I have extended from that in an ever-evolving manner. In summary, underlying my work, and within it, are my personal reflections on human existence, our potential, our transient nature, our way of being within our time in this body and the mark we leave in passing.

– Peter Miller

Peter Miller