Judy Millar

Judy Millar (b. 1957, Auckland, New Zealand; lives in Auckland and Berlin) is one of New Zealand’s most important artists. For years, she has been investigating the possibilities of a style of painting that dares to revive the formal qualities of gestural abstraction in a contemporary setting. Her energetic paintings question modernist categories. She is also interested in experimenting with forms of presentation that extend beyond the formal convention of traditional canvas-based works. Judy Millar will represent New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2009. Her work entitled The Collision comprises massive canvases that spark a controversial dialogue with the exhibition architecture. The book accompanying the exhibition provides the first-ever comprehensive review of Judy Millar’s work and includes texts by Justin Paton, Senior Curator at the Christchurch Art Gallery and Leonhard Emmerling, Curator of the New Zealand Pavilion and Director of St Paul ST, Auckland.