Current Exhibition
Ben Miller
Endangered Rivers
Ben Miller
Endangered Rivers
“Ben Miller – Endangered Rivers” presents nine paintings that range in size from 3 x 4 feet to 8 x 16 feet, and geographically from Montana and Illinois to New Jersey and New York. Each painting was done with a river organization – the Gallatin River with the Gallatin River Task Force, the Ruby, Big Hole, Beaverhead and Jefferson Rivers with Save Wild Trout, the North Fork of the Chicago River and the Calumet River with Friends of the Chicago River, the Hackensack River with Hackensack Riverkeepers, and the Hudson River with Friends of Liberty State Park. Along with generating awareness for the important work these groups are doing for river conservation, a portion of sales proceeds will go to these organizations.
Artists for time immemorial have shown us new ways to see the world. Ben’s eye looks out, not in. His mind is used to create tools to make art, not to be the subject of art. He is sophisticated, but also a populist, a fisherman and hunter who understands the world of prey and predator, who sees being human as also being animal.
Our world teeters on the brink of cataclysm from climate change, and human beings are more and more detached from nature and wilderness. The art world has pushed itself in to a corner of elitism, solipsism and market manipulation. I believe Ben is on the cusp of Zeitgeist – and the cusp of Zeitgeist is the stuff great art is made of.
Gary Snyder
Jefferson Basin, Montana
Benefiting Save Wild Trout
https://www.savewildtrout.org/
“Ben’s method is the perfect metaphor for river protection - our rivers are at risk of death by a thousand cuts, yet if we all come together do our part now, however small, the recovery will beautifully take shape.”
Wade Fellin
Save Wild Trout
“A leviathan of fly fishing lore in epic proportions, the Jefferson River watershed is trying to get back to its former glory under ever increasing pressures”
Ben Miller
Beaverhead River, MT (4/29/24), 2024
acrylic on polycarbonate
36 x 48 inches
Big Hole River, MT (4/27/24), 2024
acrylic on polycarbonate
36 x 48 inches
Ruby River, MT (4/28/24), 2024
acrylic on polycarbonate
36 x 48 inches
Jefferson River, MT (5/22/24), 2024
acrylic on polycarbonate
100 x 96”
Chicago,
Illinois
Benefiting Friends of the Chicago River
https://www.chicagoriver.org/
“It is impossible to hang on to the established misconceptions about the once workhorse Chicago-Calumet River system when you really stop and look. That is one of the reasons why Ben’s paintings are so compelling and important. His work focuses the mind and captures the magic.”
Margaret Frisbie
Executive Director, Friends of the Chicago Rivert
“With a history of recorded neglect and abuse like the Chicago River system has endured, proves the only way to heal such waters are with intention and vision”
Ben Miller
North Branch Chicago River, IL (4/23/24), 2024
acrylic on polycarbonate
72 x 48 inches
North Branch Chicago River, IL (4/23/24), 2024
acrylic on polycarbonate
72 x 48 inches
Gallatin River,
Montana
Benefiting Gallatin River Task Force
https://www.gallatinrivertaskforce.org
“Bringing awareness to the sustainable future of Big Sky's water resources, including the Gallatin, is one of the Task Force's highest priorities, and having community partners like Ben who help us amplify our work and our own vision of a healthy Gallatin is invaluable to the work we do.”
JeNelle Johnson
“The Gallatin River boils, riffles and flows from the highest reaches of the Rocky Mountains to New Orleans. The responsibilities for the folks of Montana is to ensure it gets the best start it can for its long journey”
Ben Miller
Hackensack River,
New Jersey
Benefiting Hackensack Riverkeepers
https://www.hackensackriverkeeper.org
“We are pleased to have Ben Miller here in Jersey City for a four day residency. Bringing Ben into these spaces on the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers [allows] a dialogue to be created about the need of the preservation of rivers throughout America”.
Kele McComsey, Director, MANA Contemporary, NJ
“The Hackensack River is the perfect balance of old industrial landscape with the power and will of human capabilities for river restoration when properly motivated”.
Ben Miller
Hackensack River, NJ (9/11/22)
2022 acrylic on polycarbonate
36 x 48 inches
Hudson River, New Jersey
Benefiting Friends of Liberty State Park
https://www.folsp.org
“Ben understands that nature in the wilderness is important, but also the urban areas are special places and need to be protected.”
Sam Pepin
Friends of the Liberty State Park
“Painting in New Jersey has been one of the most epic physical spaces I have taken up with fly cast painting…”
Ben Miller
Hudson River, NJ (9/12/22), 2022
acrylic on polycarbonate
36 x 48 inches