MILLER & CALDWELL: P3STUDIO
Press Release
TODD DUANE MILLER & JW CALDWELL
FACE 2 FACE
July 16 – August 10, 2014
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday | 6 – 11PM
Reception on August 8 | 6 – 8PM
P3Studio
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in partnership with Art Production Fund, is pleased to announce artists-in-residence Todd Duane Miller and JW Caldwell. Drawing on their respective strengths in photography and painting, Miller and Caldwell will use composite portraiture to produce a visual record of guests passing through P3Studio. The artists hope guests will engage with the conceptual as well as technical aspects of the art making process.
For guests who choose to participate, the process will begin with Miller photographing them in a professional studio environment. The digital photo will then be printed, cut in half and one half transferred to the wall. The following guest will go through the same process with one exception – the opposite side of the print will be placed on the wall directly next to the first guest’s print, resulting in a stark composite record of the two faces.
The remaining halves will be paired once again and re-imagined in paint as another composite portrait. Completed in the same scale, the painted portrait will be hung on the wall in a position that mirrors its corresponding photo-transfer portrait. With one side of the studio featuring objective black and white photo composites and the other side more subjective, colorful paintings, Miller and Caldwell hope to highlight individuality as well as similarity, differences as well as human connection.
Although Todd Miller, a Las Vegas resident, was not classically trained as an artist, he has always felt a natural affinity for the arts. He was drawn to photography after inheriting a camera from his father and often produces art pieces that merge photography with objects he finds while traveling. Within the discarded and misplaced objects, Miller sees treasure. He uses his art to give them a new life and a new story.
JW Caldwell, a Southern California native, draws influence from the self-proclaimed lowbrow art of his native environment as well as the high dollar art world he works in installing pieces in prominent collections. His paintings are primarily acrylic on canvas, bringing in methods he learned while studying fine art in college and working in screen-printing and scenic painting. While the themes in his works are diverse, ranging from the American West to skateboard graphics, they are all intended to be visually accessible, even to viewers not trained in art history. He has exhibited in galleries from San Diego to Houston and has several works in private collections throughout the Southwest.
The artist-in-residence program at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas represents one component of its larger art program, in which artists create projects that are interactive and participatory, giving guests the opportunity to connect at an authentic and personal level. Developed and curated in partnership with Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, it strives to reach new audiences and expand awareness through contemporary art.
