- Accepts Etsy gift cards
$150.00
Metal cut out painted Angels, Signed "R A Miller" on the verso. Approximately 10 x4 inches. Price is for a single angel.
Reuben Aaron Miller (July 22, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was a self-taught folk artist, best known for his whirligigs, metal cutouts and drawings. Miller began producing outsider art late in life, placing hundreds of his completed works on his property, as well as selling them on the roadside. His work gained wider recognition in the 1980s, when it was featured in a R.E.M. music video, and subsequently exhibited in museums of art. Widely collected, and in constant demand, Miller is acknowledged as one of the more notable senior folk artists in the United States.
One of Miller's neighbors recollected "When he first started, we all laughed at him and said 'Who wants that junk?' When he started making money, we all wanted to help." In addition to the recognition he received from R.E.M., Miller's artwork appeared on the December 2001 cover of TV Guide. Miller began receiving visitors from overseas. His artwork, which he had sold for $5–$50 in the early years, by 2006 commanded gallery prices as high as $700–$800. Exhibitions soon followed. In 2006 Brenau University's Simmons Visual Arts Center featured his works in an exhibit titled "R.A. Miller: A Tribute." The Georgia Museum of Art organized a retrospective of Miller's work in 2009. The exhibit, titled "Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection" ran August 15 through October 24, 2009. It featured 83 paintings, drawings, sculptures and whirligigs by Miller. On July 23, 2012 an exhibit and "birthday party" was held at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center, in Gainesville, Georgia to recognize the works of R.A. Miller, and to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late artist. Miller's works are often associated with fellow outsider artists predominantly from the American south like Howard Finster, Mose Tolliver, Purvis Young, B.F. Perkins, Benny Carter, etc.