Chris Miller’s paintings are on display at the Napa Valley Museum Yountville | lifestyles

The Napa Valley Museum Yountville announces the opening of a new exhibition of recent works by Napa Valley painter Chris Miller, “Confluence.” The exhibition will be on view at the History Gallery from January 21st to March 20th.

Consisting of large and small scale abstract paintings representing his latest works, Miller explores the dialogue between form, color and texture to reveal the essence in our own experience. The result is a vibrant, exploratory, and deeply personal collection of works.

A native Californian, Chris was born in Carmel and raised in Southern California. The San Fernando Valley was in its late transition from farming to suburbia, and abandoned orchards were interspersed with burgeoning housing developments. These orchards and the nearby Santa Monica Mountains provided access to nature, an expansive backyard, and like many children he was frequently engaged in expressing his experiences in crayon and colored pencil drawings and giving physical form to his imagination. He also found inspiration and encouragement from his grandfather, the animator and fantasist Walt Disney.

The pursuit of art carried Chris through high school and college (Fort Lewis College, CU Boulder, UC Santa Cruz), continued through adventures in the film and bicycle industries, and has gained momentum over the past decade. After raising their two daughters in Telluride, Colorado, Chris and his wife Catherine McNamee moved back to California, this time to Napa Valley’s Soda Canyon, where they have lived since 2012. Chris is the son of the late Ron and Diane Miller, founders of Silverado Vineyards and dedicated masters of the arts.

“This work, produced in 2021, results from the practice of observing and interpreting the mundane, macro and micro, that synthesizes and, in turn, elevates encounters with the natural world,” Miller said. “Infused with moods, fragments of dreams, curiosity/obsession with a form, breaking it apart or paying homage to it, sorting compositional elements to allow flow in order, fascinated by ambiguity, a sampling of a visual diary teetering on conclusions drifts by and tends to ask questions rather than answer.

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