Nadia Gould (1929-2007)

Nadia Gould is an under-recognized 20th-century artist, who worked primarily in New York City after fleeing Nazi occupied France (1943) as a teenager. Gould began painting in the early 1950s, attending Fred Mitchell’s Southern Tip School of Art as a scholarship student, where she developed an interest in geometric abstraction. She focused formally on creating movement by manipulating shapes and line across the expanse of the picture plane, which led to her being grouped with Op Art artists during the mid-1960s. Gould felt strongly that the designation was inaccurate and limiting. In particular, her reliance on her own hand and rejection of mechanical tools or devices differentiated Gould’s work from artists associated with the Op Art group.

An intuitive colorist, Gould’s work was recognized early, and she was notably included in the NY World’s Fair in 1965, alongside Robert Ryman, Robert Smithson and Jamie Wyeth among other rising artists. Gould also participated in the Annual Graphics Show at Phoenix Gallery side by side with eminent contemporaries such as Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Louis Dodd. In 1983, she began moving away from geometric forms and figurative subjects gradually emerged. Having traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and South America, Gould drew upon a wealth of inspiration. Her drawings from this period evolved into large acrylic paintings representing themes based upon world mythologies, religions, and art historical images. Throughout, Gould’s work records a visual vocabulary uniquely her own, and a lifelong commitment to challenging viewer expectations.

Artist C.V.

Bill Miller (b. 1962)

Bill Miller was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1962. He studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, during which time he became a founding member of the Industrial Arts Co- op. After earning his degree, he moved to Denver, Colorado where he studied at Denver University and Colorado State University, concentrating on painting and printmaking. In 1988 Miller moved to New York City, where he worked at The Village Voice and exhibited his work in a series of exhibits in Chelsea. In 2000, he relocated to Washington, D.C., to focus full time on his art. Miller currently resides in Pittsburgh.

Miller is the grandson of a coal miner and the son of a factory worker – both killed in industrial accidents. In his work, the artist bears witness to these tragedies, giving voice to this unrecognized history through the surface of his chosen medium. Using the pre-existing patterns of salvaged linoleum to deftly evoke plumes of factory smoke, stormy waves, or poignant expressions, his complex collages create new allegories from the myth of middle America. In the process, Miller imbues the once utilitarian material with emotional resonance and natural grandeur, transforming it into something precious and collectible.

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