Dan Miller

b.1961 · Oakland, California, USA

He writes the names of light bulbs, sockets and cities over themselves until language becomes weather. MoMA noticed.

The life

Miller, who is autistic and communicates minimally in speech, has worked for decades at Creative Growth in Oakland, the pioneering studio for artists with developmental disabilities. Within its daily rhythm he has built one of the most respected bodies of work in contemporary American drawing, shown at the Venice Biennale in 2017 and acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.

The work

Dense strata of written and overwritten words, letters and numbers in ink, graphite and acrylic, the vocabulary of electrical hardware recurring like a heartbeat, layered until the sheet approaches solid black or hums at the edge of legibility. Each drawing is language pushed past communication into pure presence.

Why we love them

Miller and Judith Scott prove what the right studio makes possible, which is exactly the bet Studio BRUT is making on Swindon.

Go deeper

• Creative Growth, Oakland
• Where to see outsider art, our full list of museums and collections.
• The glossary, if any of the terms here are new.

Kindred spirits

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