Harland Miller

Born in Yorkshire in 1964, Harland Miller received a BA and MA in Art History from the Chelsea College of Art in London in 1988. His influences range from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art, echoed through the use of block colours and abstracted forms.

Known for his reimagined paintings of vintage Penguin classics, British artist Harland Miller explores the combination of imagery and language, featuring his own mordent titles with the iconic Penguin logo. The appropriated image of the Penguin classic is unique as it offers up a large space on the canvas where Miller can write and convey anything which is already familiar with his audience. In 2001 he produced the first of his iconic series of Penguin covers and was struck by their impact. Consequently Miller has spent the last two decades developing the style, marrying his love for language with art: his long standing interest with literature is a central motif to his art.

A hybrid between painter and writer, Miller first achieved critical acclaim with the launch of his novel ‘Slow Down Arthur Stick to Thirty’ (2000), the story of a child who travels around the north of England with a David Bowie impersonator. In the same year he published a short fiction entitled ‘At First I was Afraid, I was Petrified’, a study on obsessive compulsive disorder. 

Most recently, Miller released a limited edition signed print to raise money for charities supporting workers on the frontline. Each were inscribed with the words ‘Who Cares Wins’. The 25 editions priced at £5,000 each sold out within 24 hours sraising £1.25 million.