LINK TO VIEW THE WORKS

Braverman Gallery is delighted to participate in the 2023 edition of EXPO CHICAGO in the Profile section. From April 13—16, at booth 406, the gallery will present the most recent body of work by Berlin-based artist Navot Miller (b. 1991, Israel).

Embracing a new wave of figurative painters whose narratives are drawn from lived events, Miller’s rising voice is attracting significant attention from collectors and from the art world. His fascinating oeuvre evokes a personal universe of emotions through an intimate yet transmissive language characterized by a mix of bright, flat, and festive colors, that weaves together emotional and private experiences with social environments and spaces. Miller’s art touches upon themes of love, self-representation, sexuality, and memory within various cultural contexts. The idea of portraying a personal experience as a queer young man coming from an orthodox background results in a social and political act of seeing and being seen, an act of vulnerability as an opportunity for empathy through the language of painting. Miller’s practice involves two creative processes: documenting and painting. He draws inspiration from an extensive collection of photographs and videos that capture joyful moments spent with friends and lovers, which serve as source material for his final works. These processes allow a coexistence of two emotional states within time. On one side the artist is living the situation, and on the other side he is looking back at it and reflecting it into the canvas.

In this solo presentation, Miller takes us on a journey through his recent travels to Mexico, New York, and Portugal. One of the works, Anousha and Nadav in Roma Norte (2023), depicts two dear friends of Miller in a loving pose at the entrance of Anousha’s apartment in Mexico City. The painting celebrates the joy of seeing two people connecting and demonstrating their love and affection. Food Vendor in Roma Norte (2023) showcases Miller’s fascination with colors, shapes, lines, and architecture. The painting reproduces the red and white stripes that characterize Mexican food vendors and cityscapes, capturing Miller’s colorful memories of his time in Mexico. The work Agustin in Hotel Casino Morelia (2023) offers a moment of intimacy as Miller portrays Agustin, a young man he met on a previous trip to Mexico, smoking out of a pipe in a semi-opened hotel room window. Miller’s colors and brushstrokes convey the atmosphere of a soft melancholy and voyeurism. Hussam in Shoreham Hotel (2022) depicts Miller’s friend Hussam lying half-naked under orange bed sheets, looking at his phone while in bed. Hussam’s presence and company was important to Miller during a difficult and stressful week spent in New York. This work portrays the simplicity of a feeling of comfort and gratitude, which Miller translates into his art. A graceful joie de vivre usually permeates Miller’s oeuvre. Nadav and Alex in Zipolite (2023), Malte and Enne in Vila Nova de Milfontes (2022) and Malte and Simon in Portugal (2022) portray Miller’s friends relaxing and enjoying their accommodations and the landscapes in Mexico and Portugal. These paintings capture the essence of freedom, happiness, and living in the moment.

Navot Miller received his BFA from Weissensee Art School, Berlin. He has exhibited his work widely in Europe, the US, and abroad, including solo exhibitions at Yossi Milo in New York; 1969 Gallery in New York; Braverman Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel; Grove Collective, London, UK; and Wannsee Contemporary, Berlin, Germany. He has presented work in group exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; Werkstattgalerie, Berlin, Germany; Unit 1 Gallery, London, UK; and Art Zagreb, Croatia, among others. In 2024, Miller will attend the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York where he will work on a site-specific project.