Richard McDermott Miller, Sculpture, Peridot-Washburn Gallery (1971)
Richard McDermott Miller is a real artist, and he's showing excellent realistic brown wax sculptures of the female nude at the Peridot-Washburn Gallery through November 27th. Two life-size figures crouch or recline on stools with great attention paid to the modeling of the forms and realistic sway and pressure of the flesh.
Particularly exciting as sculpture are three studies of an obese woman with a magnificently swollen torso. What a paunch for a sculptor to tackle! And Miller does so with great gusto and reverence for the sagging, swelling forms as the nude stands, supporting her breasts on folded arms; or reclines on her side or back with legs twisted in the air.
Other, larger figures dominate because of their size, but in comparison with the fat ladies, they pale, competent as they are. The scratchy, cross-hatched surfaces of the large sculptures interfere slightly with the enjoyment of the beautifully modeled forms. But don't let this minor quibble detract from Miller's accomplishment, for it is considerable.
To "see" reality with character and creativity is to have within your grasp the ultimate in art. Richard Miller sees the unidealized irregularities of nature's forms. Breasts tilt, hips and thighs are solidly seen as planes and volumes but always remain hips and thighs, avoiding the trap of abstraction or non-objectivity gone sterile and icy because it has strayed too far from reality as human beings know it.
Copyright by Don Gray
Don Gray Art • Art Essays & Art Criticisms