Love Saves The Day

Love Saves The Day belongs to artist Harland Miller’s iconic series of works inspired by the Penguin book covers. Drawing upon his Northern roots and steeped in British heritage, Miller’s work simultaneously celebrates a treasured part of his country’s national aesthetic identity, whilst forging a fresh interpretation of that aesthetic that catapults it straight into contemporary culture, reimagined in a new context with bold, daring text. With painterly brushstrokes and dripping colour, the effect of these works is one of an ageing paperback infused with artistic vigour.

Miller actually first achieved widespread critical recognition as a writer, with his debut novel, Slow down Arthur, Stick to Thirty published in 2000. Then in 2001, merging his interests in image and text, Miller began creating the series of works based upon the Penguin book covers, which he picked up from thrift shops during his time spent living in Paris, but that also reminded him of his childhood in the North of England. Inspired by writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, Miller was able to incorporate his love of classic literature with painting. Love Saves The Day is an archetypal example from this body of work, which combines figurative painting with elements of popular culture and literary imagery. The faded cover, torn edges and stained, smudged pages nostalgically recall a lifetime history of love and use, that visually references our intimate, long-standing relationship with text and language, a visceral, physical connection between person and page that passes through the generations. The American painter Ed Ruscha is a clear influence for Miller, marrying text and image in a radical juxtaposition using slogans and phrases to compliment his paintings. Mark Rothko, too, is another such acknowledged source of inspiration for the British artist, whose work demonstrates the use of bands of colour such as the orange and white seen in Love Saves The Day.