Executed in dazzling tones of blue, electric pink and deep purples, Harland Miller’s vibrant painting Hell… The Kind of Nightmare You Only Dream Of 9 from 2017 sees a new step in the artist’s celebrated oeuvre of work. The Hell… series of paintings sees Miller’s first exploration into fictional book covers. His most famous series of works, the Penguin covers, see the artist recreate existing books, encapsulating his wicked sense of humour and painterly sensibilities within a recreation of a found object. With the present work, however, Miller creates book covers totally imagined by himself, opening up introspection about the line between fiction and reality. The artist has stepped into the role of the author, crafting a vibrant and tangible painting that contains the same bond to a physical book that his Penguin works do. A real written counterpart, however, does not exist for Hell…, blurring the lines between what the viewer sees and what actually exists.

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. In his paintings and works on paper Miller regularly sets up the potential for storytelling, characterised by their humanity and comedic undertones, using titles, phrases or single words to echo or allow for multiple readings. 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. Miller’s punchy slogans and bold typography appeal to a wide range of viewers, with the artist explaining, “People who may not even really like art will stop and read what it says on a painting” (Harland Miller quoted in: Hettie Judah, “Harland Miller on York: So Good They Named It Once: ‘Colour is endlessly fascinating to me’”, i News, 9 March 2020, online). The ascending numbers of the Hell… series also inherently refer to collects ibility, with Miller referencing Don DeLillo’s 1997 novel Underworld and the theme of collects ing as a way of transcending death.

Whilst Miller is a prolific writer in his own right, he has stated in a recent interview, “I’m a painter who writes books, rather than a writer who paints” (Harland Miller quoted in: Dan Thawley, “The French Letter Paintings - Harland Miller at White Cube Paris”, A Magazine Curated By, May 2022, online). The comparatively simple focus on colour, typography and composition in the Hell… works makes it easier to approach them as a single entity, rather than text and painting floating apart. Unlike earlier works, the present painting contains a viscerally physical quality to it: flies, hair and other remnants of Miller’s artistic process are trapped within layers of paint, impregnating the surface with minute calling-cards of the artist and transforming the flat canvas into something three-dimensional. Evoking the sculptural works of the YBA movement, Miller breaks the boundary between studio and gallery, the aesthetics of his painting becoming inextricably linked with the process of painting itself.