IRL | Luke Ikard & Curtis Miller

Hamiltonian Gallery is pleased to present “IRL”, an exhibition of artwork by artists Curtis Miller and Luke Ikard. “IRL” will open with a reception from 7 - 9 pm on Saturday, February 23. Both artists will be in attendance.


Curtis Miller's abstract paintings entice viewers with imagery that resembles pixelated video game graphics from the 1980s and 90s. Using this imagery as bait, Miller invites viewers to break with the tendency to find cohesive narrative in his paintings and instead consider the sensuous, humorous and playful possibilities of what paint on different surfaces can do. Beginning from a ground of marble dust gesso on panel, Miller builds his surfaces up in thin layers of highly pigmented medium ranging from oil to spray paint, allowing materiality to dictate composition. Forms break the painting's surface or disappear underneath washes of color, weaving, colliding and melting into one another. Miller rewards the careful and patient observer, revealing a quiet yet confident command of medium, composition and craft.

Taking childhood as his starting-point, Luke Ikard filters memories through digital technology, creating slick objects that serve as portals to nostalgia. Honoring a love of craft instilled in him by the generations of carpenters in his family, Ikard creates 3D printed interpretations of the objects that furnished his childhood home. Within these renderings of tables, couches, bunk beds and nightstands, he conceals video footage of forests and empty rooms from his past. In Ikard's fragmentary domestic installations, memories are given form through familiar-looking objects that are comforting while also evoking a disquieting sense of anxiety and loss. 

Curtis Miller (b. 1979, Corsicana, Texas) is an abstract painter who holds an MFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art's Hoffberger School of Painting (2013). He builds paintings from the ground up, treating each layer as a stage that allows paint to exist in different contexts. Miller exhibited his work at Pulse Contemporary Art Fair Miami in 2018 with Hamiltonian Gallery and produced bodies of work for spaces including K Space Contemporary, Gaddis Geeslin Gallery, Joan Grona Gallery, The South Texas Art Museum, and the Art Center of Corpus Christi.  In recent years Curtis has exhibited his paintings at Terrault Contemporary, City Arts, Maryland Art Place, Jordan Faye Contemporary and Platform Gallery in Baltimore, MD, Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, NY and Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington, DC. His work is held in the permanent collections of Fidelity Investments, Capitol One Bank and various private national and international collections. Miller is based in Baltimore, MD where he works and lives with his wife and 5 year-old daughter.

Luke Ikard (b. 1990, Houston, TX) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Baltimore, MD, where he is an Artist in Residence at the School 33 Art Center. He is an Adjunct Professor at MICA and Carroll Community College teaching courses in 3D design and new media. He completed his MFA in Multidisciplinary Art from the Mount Royal School of Art at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2017, and he received his BFA in Studio Art from Sam Houston State University in 2014. Ikard was a 2017 Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship finalist and Trawick Prize semifinalist. He received the 2015-2017 Merit Scholarship from the Mount Royal School of Art. His work is part of the College of Fine Art and Mass Communication permanent collection at Sam Houston State University. Ikard has also produced site-specific work at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum Park and has exhibited throughout the United States. His work has most recently been shown in group exhibitions at Maryland Art Place, School 33 Art Center, and the International Art Gallery in the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. 

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February 23 - March 30 2019

Opening Reception:

Saturday, February 23 7 - 9pm

Artist Talk:

Wednesday, March 20, 7pm