Judy Millar
Biography
Judy Millar, The Wave Cry, The Wind Cry, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 2300 x 25500m
Judy Millar, Waking at Dawn, 2023, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1400 x 950mm
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2001, acrylic and oil on aluminium, 550 x 760mm
Judy Millar, 5th Kyiv Biennial: Against the Logic of War, 2023, Installation view, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Photo: eSeL.at – Joanna Pianka
Judy Millar, Water On Your Forehead, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 1800 x 1400mm
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2005, acrylic oil on canvas, 1350 x 1050mm
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2004, acrylic and oil on aluminium, 770 x 510mm
Judy Millar, Underwing, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 2100 x 800mm
Judy Millar, Blow Away Spell, 2022, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Learning to Eat Fire, 2022, acrylic and oil on canvas 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Pink Trap, 2020, acrylic on vinyl, 2145 x 6100mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnet
Judy Millar, Big Skies Tonight, 2020, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2100 x 1600mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Action Movie, 2021 Installation view, City Gallery Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Cheska Brown
Judy Millar, Action Movie, 2021 Installation view, City Gallery Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Cheska Brown
Judy Millar, Cave, 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2100 x 1550mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, Rock Drop, 2017 Installation view, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Aotearoa. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Space Work 7, 2014 Installation view, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Be Do Be Do Be Do, 2013 Installation view, IMA, Brisbane, Australia Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, The Rainbow Loop, 2012 Installation view, Museum Gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany
Judy Millar, A Better Life, 2010 Installation view, Spielhaus Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter
Judy Millar, Waking at Dawn, 2023, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1400 x 950mm
Judy Millar, 5th Kyiv Biennial: Against the Logic of War, 2023, Installation view, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Photo: eSeL.at – Joanna Pianka
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2005, acrylic oil on canvas, 1350 x 1050mm
Judy Millar, Underwing, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 2100 x 800mm
Judy Millar, Learning to Eat Fire, 2022, acrylic and oil on canvas 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Big Skies Tonight, 2020, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2100 x 1600mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Action Movie, 2021 Installation view, City Gallery Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Cheska Brown
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, Rock Drop, 2017 Installation view, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Aotearoa. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Be Do Be Do Be Do, 2013 Installation view, IMA, Brisbane, Australia Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, A Better Life, 2010 Installation view, Spielhaus Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter
Judy Millar
Judy Millar
Born 1957, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
While Millar’s idiosyncratic ‘action’ painting critically addresses its place in a male-dominated tradition, it also articulates itself as a visceral force exploring the limits of scale, form, colour and texture. Millar is recognised for her methodological experimentation with scanning, printing and erasure and for articulating the support surface of painting with a grammar that is often as lyrical as the gestures applied to it. This work has radically shifted the framework in which abstract painting has developed in New Zealand.
For over three decades Millar has exhibited extensively in Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2009, she represented New Zealand at the 53rd Venice Biennale, with the acclaimed exhibition Giraffe-Bottle-Gun presented at La Maddalena in Cannaregio. She maintains a significant presence in Europe, running a studio in Berlin and frequently exhibiting in Switzerland, where she was the subject of the major solo exhibition The Future and the Past Perfect, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2019) and featured in the group exhibition Frozen Gesture, Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2019).
Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include: Judy Millar & Kate Newby, Michael Lett, Auckland (2025); Here You Are, Michael Lett, Auckland (2024); Cry Sea, Cry Sky, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington (2024); Questions I have Asked Myself, Galerie Mark Mueller, Zurich (2022); Action Movie, City Gallery, Wellington (2021); Whipped Up World, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington (2019) and Rock Drop, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2017). Her work has featured in group exhibitions including: Spotlight, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2023–2024); huikaau: where currents meet, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (2024); Against the Logic of War: 5th Kyiv Biennial, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna (2023); ja, fürwahr, ihr zeigt uns Träume, wie die Brust sie kaum begreift, Galerie Mark Mueller, Zurich (2023); Unpainting – Contemporary Abstraction, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2017); Movements Towards Formation, Kustquartier Bethanien, Berlin (2015) and Cinema and Painting, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington (2014). Millar graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 1983. She lives and works between Berlin, Germany, and Anawhata, Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Judy Millar, The Wave Cry, The Wind Cry, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 2300 x 25500m
Judy Millar, Waking at Dawn, 2023, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1400 x 950mm
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2001, acrylic and oil on aluminium, 550 x 760mm
Judy Millar, 5th Kyiv Biennial: Against the Logic of War, 2023, Installation view, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Photo: eSeL.at – Joanna Pianka
Judy Millar, Water On Your Forehead, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 1800 x 1400mm
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2005, acrylic oil on canvas, 1350 x 1050mm
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2004, acrylic and oil on aluminium, 770 x 510mm
Judy Millar, Underwing, 2023, acrylic oil on canvas, 2100 x 800mm
Judy Millar, Blow Away Spell, 2022, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Learning to Eat Fire, 2022, acrylic and oil on canvas 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Pink Trap, 2020, acrylic on vinyl, 2145 x 6100mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnet
Judy Millar, Big Skies Tonight, 2020, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2100 x 1600mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Action Movie, 2021 Installation view, City Gallery Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Cheska Brown
Judy Millar, Action Movie, 2021 Installation view, City Gallery Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Cheska Brown
Judy Millar, Cave, 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2100 x 1550mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, Untitled, 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1800 x 1250mm. Photograph: Sam Hartnett
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, The Future and Past Perfect, 2019 Installation view, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland. Photograph: Sebastian Stadler
Judy Millar, Rock Drop, 2017 Installation view, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Aotearoa. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Space Work 7, 2014 Installation view, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Wellington, Aotearoa. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Be Do Be Do Be Do, 2013 Installation view, IMA, Brisbane, Australia Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, The Rainbow Loop, 2012 Installation view, Museum Gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany
Judy Millar, A Better Life, 2010 Installation view, Spielhaus Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Millar Studio
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter
Judy Millar, Giraffe, Bottle, Gun, 2009 Installation view, Pavilion of New Zealand Aotearoa, 53rd Venice Biennale. Photograph: Harald Richter