Harland Miller’s Too Cool to Die is part of the artist’s iconic series of vintage Penguin book-covers. The series of large-scale paintings of the familiar literary facades are cherished for their witty titles and dark humour, and have been widely exhibited around the world. Simply titled Too Cool to Die, the work encapsulates Miller’s exploration of visual and literary narrative, and the power of words to produce meaning as a visual medium.

The series began from an encounter with a box of Penguin books outside a secondhand bookshop in Notre Dame. It was the early 1990s, Miller had been living in Paris and experimenting with painting large scale book-covers, replacing the French titles with his own. Translating his love of books into experimentation of text and wordplay, the instantly recognizable bright orange cover was the perfect way to place emphasis on the letters, which were the central focus of his work. As the artist noted, “... each letter is given the same value and they come in and out of focus, you can follow the one letter and it sort of disappears - it’s a way of experiencing the painting and the word at the same t.mes ” (Harland Miller cited in: Gareth Harris, ‘Harland Miller: a language of text and colour’, Financial t.mes s, 22 June 2019, online). Miller describes the beginning of this book series as a pivotal moment where he began to incorporate his own experience into his artistic practice through the form of a common phrase, a satirical take on a famous title, or even a single word.

Miller’s use of text and commercial imagery can be traced back to artists such as Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol, both of whom he cites as artistic influences. Miller’s short, sardonic titles carry echoes of Ruscha’s deadpan humour, using everyday slang and wordplay. In the same way Warhol painted Campbell’s soup cans which he ate every day, Miller painted the Penguins which he read every day. However, unlike the mid-century American artists whose works explored the commercial opportunities of the post-war world, the British artist, half a century later, explores the mundane and everyday through the ubiquitous imagery of a classic book series.

Blown up to over two meters tall, Too Cool to Die reveals the painter’s affection for the Penguin publications, not just as a vessel for a story, but as a material companion to his life. The patch of green staining on the upper edge, dripping white paint which creates the illusion of creasing on the bottom corners and the faded brown edges all reveal signs of a well-loved book. Miller’s name is written as the author beneath the title, faded beneath layers of paint. Whether it is in the pages beneath the cover or the imaginary hands which have just taken the book off the shelf, the painting contains within it an infinite potential for narrative. Too Cool to Die is Miller’s story to initiate, but is ultimately our own to tell.