30 May Round Up: A Reflection on Rivers

This summer, artist Ben Miller’s abstract works will be on display at the newly opened Oxbow Gallery in Bozeman, Montana. Curated by Gary Snyder Fine Art, Endangered Rivers features Miller’s paintings of important waterways in the U.S., including four rivers in Montana’s Jefferson Basin, Montana’s Gallatin River, and the more urban Chicago, Hudson, and Hackensack rivers.

Miller, known for depicting bodies of water on transparent plexiglass with the stroke of a fly rod, works in partnership with water stewardship organizations like Riverkeeper, Save Wild Trout, and the Gallatin River Task Force to produce many of his works. These collaborations elevate efforts to conserve life-giving waterways. 

According to a press release from Gary Snyder Fine Art, “Miller’s Endangered Rivers series expresses the idea that small parts of the world can hold our deepest attention and that by looking closely, we heighten awareness of our environment.”

Sometimes compared to Cody, Wyoming-born abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, Miller works in the tradition of flinging paint and partnering with gravity to create a kind of wildness in his art. In addition to a fly rod, Miller uses what he calls a “fly brush” — absorbent material that he puts on the end of his fly line — which he then casts some 2,000 times to make a 3- by 4-foot painting.

Miller’s work will be displayed at Oxbow Gallery from June 16 to September 29. For more information on the exhibition, visit oxbowgallery.art, benmillerartist.com, or gsfamt.com.