About Justin D. Miller

Justin D. Miller is a Chicago area self-taught acrylic artist and painter. He earned degrees in architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation he lived on the West Coast before returning to Illinois in 2006. In 1999 while in Portland, Oregon, he changed his career from architecture to the emerging fields of digital graphics and Internet technology. After a move to Boise, Idaho, in 2004 he started fine art painting to satisfy his need for creative output.

Justin first created surreal landscapes with oil paints, drawing inspiration from contemporary painters in the Magic Realism style. As the Internet grew in the later 1990’s, he had access to many artists whose work was not previously viewable in the bookstores and museums at his youth. This wealth of new inspiration included the genres of Lowbrow, Pop Surrealism, and sci-fi/fantasy art from alternate art media forms like video games and movies. Justin transitioned to acrylic paint around 2013 and later broadened his style to include his current series ‘Cold Light’.

Justin seeks to create art that stirs the imagination. He believes the best visual art conveys emotions to the viewer. Besides painting, he enjoys time with his family and traveling to visually exciting or extreme places.

About my Art 

My first paintings were of surreal buildings and architecture, inspired from Dutch Renaissance painters and European surrealism. I loved the high level the detail and background elements in their paintings which bring them to life. Later I took inspiration from American contemporary lowbrow and digital art, which incorporates modern subject matter and alternate media like video games and movie design.

My current series is called Cold Light. The title and subject matter were inspired by the frigid Midwestern winters of Chicago, and places that linger in my memories that hint of isolation or the mysterious, such as vast old European buildings or ruins, and windswept, cloudy landscapes. The colors are primarily earth-tone and muted. The setting is filled with old architecture, wild animals, clouds and fog, and a society living in an age of decline. The people and clothing are inspired from photos of the Victorian and Industrial ages. I also have Cold Light paintings that incorporate technology in a dark and mysterious way, inspired by tv, smartphone, and computer screens, as well as tracking and surveillance.

I work out of my Chicago area brick bungalow home, usually with sci-fi themed streaming media playing in the background.