Lett Thomas is pleased to preview our solo presentation of recent paintings by Judy Millar for the Aotearoa Art Fair 2026.

Born in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1957, Judy Millar has developed an idiosyncratic ‘action’ painting practice that critically addresses its place in a male-dominated tradition, while testing the relationship between material, meaning and image.

Millar is recognised for her ongoing methodological experimentation and for articulating the support surface of painting with a grammar both lyrical and explorative. This work has radically shifted the framework in which abstract painting has developed in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“I think they’re both organic and highly synthetic. I’m always trying to bring the most contrary elements together in a work as possible. So, on one hand they’re very organic, on the other they’re highly artificial and synthetic. On the one hand they’re very free in their making, on the other hand they’re very constructed. I think painting at its best can bring these very paradoxical activities into one image.”

– Judy Millar

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).

Her work has also 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), among many others.

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.