Michael Edward Miller


Photos 1, 3 & 5 Jon Vincent/VANDOCUMENT, 2, 4 & 6 courtesy of artist


Mike Tyson

Spray paint on panel
90″ x 72″

Von Kaiser

Spray paint on panel
34.5″ x 36″

Smaaaash!!

Spray paint on panel
11.5″ x 84″

Michael Edward Miller currently utilizes technology to capture images and sketch digital plans for his work. He uses spray paint, stencils, and sculptural materials to render iconic imagery in new formats. Through his use of scale, Michael allows the viewer to experience a deeper relationship with the subject in the physical world, building on their emotional connections to the original works.

The figurative paintings on display derive from the iconic boxing video game ‘Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!’, which was released by Nintendo in 1987 for the NES gaming system. During Michael’s earliest years he consistently witnessed his older brother’s attempts to master this game. His repeated exposure to pixelated 8-bit imagery heavily influenced his first body of work.

The text based paintings originate from the Japanese video game ‘Mother’, known in North America as the widely successful series ‘Earthbound’. The text ‘Smaaaash!!’ appears when you deal extra heavy damage to your opponent in battle. It signifies strength, chance, skill and power.

Curator: Rick Erickson


Bio

Michael Edward Miller was born in Kitchener, Ontario on March 19, 1989, and raised in Abbotsford, BC.

Coming from a smaller community, Millerā€™s engagement and growth was centred on connecting with his family over early generation home console gaming. Later in life, Millerā€™s desire for a creative outlet and self-expression briefly lead him to study business and fashion design before discovering his resonation with visual art. Starting as meditative and reflective work, Millerā€™s stencilled spray-painted panels grew into his primary fine-art exploration, and his first body of work and solo-exhibition: ā€˜The Nintendo Generationā€™.

Driven by his idealist appreciation of his generationā€™s iconography, Miller has explored the subject matter of a multitude of video games from the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System. Concentrating on the imagery and philosophy of Mike Tysonā€™s Punch-Out!!, Miller produced the ā€˜Punch Out!ā€™ series for his second and third solo-exhibition, which was shown locally and internationally.

Millerā€™s process currently utilizes technology to capture and reconfigure original images for his work. He uses spray paint, stencils and sculptural materials to render iconic imagery in new formats. Through his use of scale, Michael allows the viewer to experience a deeper relationship with the subject in the physical world, building on their emotional connections to the original works.

Michael Edward Miller is currently living and working in Vancouver, BC.

MichaelEdwardMiller.com