Anthony Miler, born 1982 in Toledo, Ohio, is an American artist currently based in Brooklyn, New York.

Miler received his MFA from The City College of New York, CUNY in 2008, and studied in the UK at the Central College Abroad and the London Metropolitan University in 2004.

While Miler initially focused on abstract expressionism and on an interplay of graphite lines — thickets of sweeping, gestural marks coalesced into amorphous faces and scenes. – giving form to inner feelings and emotions on canvas – his mode of expression has changed dramatically in recent years.  Now, the graphite mark-making has returned, albeit in a finer, more controlled manner, dictated, in small part, by the material Miler uses. Incorporating cross-hatching and other delicate line work to shade his abstracted forms, the artist uses the warp of the tightly woven canvas to direct the line, implicating the materials in their own act of transformation. 

Despite Miler’s turn to more meticulous mark-making, especially in the detailing of the “eyes” that populate his canvases, it remains difficult to refer to Miler’s paintings as exactly representational. In Miler’s work, the singular, cyclopic eye operates as a hinge between the worlds of figuration and abstraction. The symbol serves as the minimal possible gesture necessary to break the spell of total abstraction, while also resisting any further formal readings or turns toward pareidolia. The viewer is left vacillating between the two genres, constantly reevaluating their relative ratios.

Miler’s unique motifs may look like birds at first glance. However, they are not depictions of one particular thing, but a portrayal of the beauty of form in an evolutionary context. They can be considered examples of evolution without human beings.

It is impossible to summarize Miler’s work through art historical references alone. Miler is firmly entrenched in contemporary life, in a society where digital and industrial methods of production are multiplying dehumanized forms and sleek interfaces. In his insistent defamiliarization of human forms and his mixing of traditional and unconventional art materials, Miler’s work embodies a raw critique of our cultural moment. This response to a world in ongoing motion is itself a perpetual exploration, reflected in the artist’s working methods. Miler is thoughtful but deliberately uncalculated. By embracing spontaneity and experimentation, Miler constantly pushes both his hand as well as his materials to unpredictably surprising and viscerally evocative capacities.

Miler’s recent solo exhibitions include Witness, The Pit (Los Angeles, CA, 2021); 05, PM/AM (London, 2020); The Sun Sets On Us All, MASAHIRO MAKI GALLERY (Tokyo, 2019). He has also participated in group exhibitions, primarily in New York, as well as in Denmark, France, and the U.K.