Harland Miller

Harland Miller (b. 1964) is a British artist and writer renowned for his distinctive fusion of text and image, most notably through his large-scale paintings that reimagine vintage Penguin book covers. Born in Yorkshire, England, Miller attended the Chelsea College of Art in London, where he completed both his BA and MA degrees by 1988. Following his studies, he spent formative years living and working in New York, Berlin and Paris.

Miller's literary inclinations are evident in his early career as a novelist. In 2000, he published his debut novel, Slow Down Arthur, Stick to Thirty, a narrative set in 1980s Yorkshire that follows a young protagonist's journey alongside a David Bowie impersonator. That same year, he released At First I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified, a novella exploring obsessive-compulsive disorder, inspired by a collection of Polaroid photographs depicting oven knobs turned to the ‘off’ position.

Transitioning from literature to visual art, Miller gained prominence with his Penguin Book Covers series, initiated in the early 2000s. These works feature satirical and often melancholic titles, such as ‘Death: What’s in It for Me?’ and ‘York, So Good They Named It Once’, rendered in the classic Penguin paperback design. By appropriating this familiar format, Miller blurs the boundaries between high art and popular culture, inviting viewers to reflect on themes of identity, nostalgia and societal norms.

Beyond the Penguin series, Miller's oeuvre includes the Letter Paintings, where he isolates single words or acronyms like ‘LUV’ and ‘ACE’, drawing inspiration from illuminated manuscripts and modern typography. His Hell series juxtaposes bold textual declarations with vibrant colour fields, exploring existential themes with characteristic wit. Miller's stylistic influences encompass Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, with nods to artists such as Mark Rothko, Ed Ruscha and Robert Rauschenberg.

Miller's work has been exhibited internationally, including solo shows at White Cube galleries in London, Paris and Hong Kong. In 2020, the York Art Gallery hosted Harland Miller: York, So Good They Named It Once, a retrospective that underscored the artist's connection to his Yorkshire roots.