Interview with Adam Scott Miller

interviewed by Miguel Tió on August 3, 2008

Adam is a young visionary artist and energetic surrealist. When you see his work, it strikes the viewer with his very strong dynamic compositions, contrasting colors, and use of light. His paintings and illustrations often explore transcendental energy flows. The subjects that Adam portrays are charged with a deep spirituality in a very imaginative and dramatic approach, using focal points which sometimes burst with light/energy, from where he leads the eyes of the observer through the rest of the work, just like the way the human heart pumps the liquid of life through the body.

What were the artistic influences in your early childhood?

My early influences were monsters and humanoid creatures. I would watch these strange beings on the television or while playing video games, and attribute symbolic importance to these forms in my imagination. Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Terminator, werewolves … I have drawn somewhat regularly since perhaps being three years old. Around age ten, for perhaps a year or so, I regularly experienced night terrors where I would wake up in the middle of a dream and the experience would be merged with my waking reality for perhaps a half hour or so. I feel this had a major impact on me, most of which was repressed.

My visual imagination has always been very active. When anything is said to me or read from words, I glimpse an image that is wrought from that instigation. Mostly, I struggle with this capacity as a lot of these visual triggers I would not choose to see. Also, most of what I see with my mind’s eye, does not feel relevant for me to devote attention to, in order to artistically realize it. I take note of some of these visions though, as if they are pieces of a puzzle, or a seed from which a plant might sprout.

When did you realize that you wanted to be an artist?

It was a natural progression without any clear starting point. I have always drawn with a high degree of concentration. As a teenager I awoke to the significant meaning orchestrating existence and the dire importance of conscious evolution. By directing my attention to a combination of wisdom traditions and sociopolitical concerns. Over time, I had a series of powerful and realigning experiences involving meditation, visualization, and catharsis. Some of these were in a forest, where I often ventured to find peace and understanding. Walking with full attention, without distracting thoughts, I deeply felt and envisioned the vastly interconnected ecology of the web of life. Reading, thinking, feeling, and creating art have triggered further subtle (and not so subtle) revelations. These catalyst cornerstones of proaction, meditation, and eclectic comprehension, have motivated me to use my talents for the betterment of myself and others. The path of the artist is like that of the explorer: both sail into unknown territory to discover novel visions of experience.

Later in life, were there any artists who strongly influenced you?

As a teenager my work began to gain momentum to where I am now, and then, the artwork that surrounded the band Tool was paramount. This included Alex Grey, Cam de Leon, Chet Zar and Adam Jones. From there, my art influences have branched all over due to my exposures during art school studies. Though still, my greatest influences seem to be the artists from the Baroque, Romanticism, Surrealism, and Visionary art movements. The primary mentor of my artistic development has been Susan Waters-Eller, an artist and teacher with a magnificent mind.

Did you attend art or design school, if so how did this affect your work?

I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) for a BFA in Illustration, and this September I will receive a MFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art (MassArt). The guidance I have received has expanded my comprehension of art history, politics, and vocabularies. In addition, through these six years I have developed many modes of working, from which I am resolving unique technique to successfully marry deep concept with high craft.

Have you had any struggles that have kept you from continuing as an artist?

I have great determination and focus for my work, but the continuing struggle is financial. I sell very few prints, rarely an original (even though I price my work very low), and the only somewhat substantial income I make, is from my digital painting and video skills.

What do you consider yourself to be: a traditional artist, digital artist, or both? Which medium do you think is your strongest?

I consider myself varied, but first and foremost traditional. My strongest medium is how I currently work, a marriage of drawing and painting. I choose the digital medium when it is the most sensible for whatever reason (i.e. for the sake of time), usually only if it is an illustration job.

Which kind of works are more fulfilling to you: your fine art works or your illustrations?

In general, undoubtedly my fine art, as that is entirely directed by my own vision and explorative searching without a specific result in mind. This allows the process to be more of a meditation that is fertile for intimate discovery.

Making images is my tool for discovery, and a by-product of the experiences of my consciousness. Art serves as a mirror for my self and is the way of responding to beauty. My artist’s drive is to realize the/my self by expressing, and thus externalizing, the internal experience to which no one else is directly privy. The piece of art is the experience’s artifice that we can share with others. The artist seduces others to see the way they do.

Does your work reflect your philosophy of life? How does the spiritual side of life affect you and your work?

Yes, my work reflects my philosophy of life. My ethic as an artist is in pursuit of living with a greater awareness of the nature of the cosmos and being open to what I experience deeply. My practicum brings me to states of inspiration and peace while I struggle to translate the invisible into experiential forms of communication I am gifted to wield. My images are artifacts from exploring the relationships between personal experience and concepts that I consider to be significantly relevant. The artifact that forms is a mindful residue from the art of being open to visionary revelation. This creative work is how I process and integrate my perceptions of the world into new ways of seeing and insights into living.

My succinct working philosophy on life, the nature of being and becoming, is that all is one interconnected empty-fullness of energetic sentience. Sentience is intelligence, is communicative energy that, inherently is love, perfect … In terms of daily living, this means that I try to actively live in the awareness that - all that I experience, every sense, no matter how apparently large or small is a message from the universal mind to me. Now, for what purpose? This unfathomably vast intelligence is Nature. What does Nature want? Why, to grow! I believe it wants us to grow as well, as healthy, full and clear as we possibly can. But, how do we act and live from this way of life? It is simple, no matter how complicated we make it seem.

My creative drive is to somehow externalize my internal dynamic, to get it down on paper and look at it. Not to accept it as reality, but to accept it as part of human experience. My mission in art is to develop my perception of the world and ourselves, using my intuitive compass that is guided by the events of my personal life - and to take as much as I can into account and render something that touches upon the heart of the matter.

My images cognate the philosophical underpinnings of my imagination, and also spur on novel senses of discovery as I create. Like a scientist, as an artist I consider the consciousness, or model of perception that I stand on, as only scaffolding from which to articulate more relevant and inspired planes of existence in the world. As sentient beings in relationship with the world around and within us, we need new, higher and integral perspectives to counterbalance the habit of taking life for granted. To articulate a visual vocabulary is to give greater depth to the language of seeing. Art provides an amorphous new language with which to understand the world in a new way. It can catalyze a state of being by helping to build a new structure of envisioning. I wish to bridge the perceived gap between logical/materialistic analysis and intuitive/mystical experience. My directive as an artist is to engage and communicate the meaning inherent before our eyes, which we do not see. My artwork reflects a sense of the “numinous,” which is characterized by the quintessential qualities of the sacred: mystery, awe, fascination, satisfaction, and inspiration. Once a piece of mine attains this state, it breathes with integrity and is ready to have a life of its own in the world.

In my view, art serves as a reflection of our context, and achieves its maximum potential when it acts deliberately to improve and benefit the whole. This is what I am striving to do and I hope that my work, in some way, benefits you.

Why did you decide to be involved with the Energy Art Movement?

Why not? All reality is the art of moving energy, and I am a happy conductive part of it. But seriously, my work is in utter correspondence with the movement. I strive to visualize the dynamo of the multi-planar manifestations of energy relationships.

What are your plans for the future?

Currently, I am finishing up my terminal degree in art and applying to art residencies around the world. I plan to bounce around from one to the next for a couple years until I have a gravity to stay in one place. Eventually, I will probably teach at the university level. I will continue making the invisible energies of experience into visible form. My visionary ability in every aspect will grow in correspondence to my developing consciousness. Each day, each moment I am trying to be a good gardener, and keeping the soil of life fertile for whatever the future may bring.

Thank you for the opportunity to share some more of myself.