Peter Miller New Zealand, b. 1955
Works
Biography
Peter Miller is an Auckland-based painter whose work reflects a deep fascination with time, memory, and the fragile beauty of existence. While best known for his contemporary still life paintings, Miller also works beyond that genre, producing narrative-based figurative works and large-scale portraits, the latter now a strong and growing focus of his practice.
His interest in the symbolic power of painting was sparked while briefly attending art school, where he first encountered the Vanitas tradition of 16th- and 17th-century Dutch still life. The Vanitas painters’ use of rich symbolism to reflect on mortality and impermanence resonated deeply with him. While Miller draws from this tradition, his approach is more contemplative than didactic, layering quiet metaphors into his compositions through the use of object, shadow, palette, and form. These elements often suggest a narrative, but invite the viewer’s own interpretation rather than assert a fixed meaning.
Miller’s still life paintings frequently feature timeworn domestic objects or vintage toys that carry the patina of childhood play. These aged and often damaged items act as subtle symbols of transience and memory, drawing on the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi in their embrace of imperfection and impermanence. At times, these objects are elevated through stark compositions and gentle lighting, offering a quiet reverence for the overlooked or obsolete.
In recent years, Miller’s practice has expanded to include portraits and figure-based works. These paintings explore identity and human potential, often through an ambiguous or emotive gaze. They speak to his enduring interest in the human condition, and the tension between presence and passage, a link that connects them conceptually to his still life works.
Since first exhibiting in 1997, Peter Miller has been a regular finalist in major national awards, including winning the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award in 2014. His paintings are held in private collections across New Zealand and internationally.