Catfish Bone

Acrylic paint, india ink and gesso on 8 1/8" x 8 1/8" wood

"Catfish Bone"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

The Festival of Subterranean Delight

(6" x 9" cotton canvas sheet glued to latex paper. Acrylic paint, india ink and gesso)

"The Festival of Subterranean Delight"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

The Aboriginal University of Uncivilized Storytelling

 
                                                                                             SOLD
(approx. 8" x 7 " - acrylic paint, india ink and gesso on cotton rag paper glued to a 3/16" thick wood panel)

I've been thinking about stories lately and the ways we are so used to reading them and relating them to other people. We've developed conventions about storytelling but I believe some of the best stories come to us in the language of dreams where the beginning is at the center and the end is in the middle of the beginning...

"The Aboriginal University of Uncivilized Storytelling"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

Gloria in the Sky with Imogene

Acrylic paint on cotton rag paper glued to wood. approx. 8 1/8" x 8 1/8"

"Gloria in the Sky with Imogene"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

The Servants of Salome

I painted "The Servants of Salome" with acrylic paint, india ink and gesso onto a cotton canvas sheet glued to a piece of (approximately 6" x 6") watercolor paper. This painting features rich copper colors with hints of gold.

The Substitute Daughters of Wilhemina

                                                                                                                          SOLD

(Acrylic Paint and gesso on a 6" x 9" unstretched acrylic canvas sheet glued to latex paper)

This painting explores how grief and desire torment us with their doppelgangers, substitutes and mirages for something or someone no longer apparently there.


"The Substitute Daughters of Wilhemina"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rigths reserved.

Oh, When You Leave This Earth

Acrylic paint, india ink and gesso on approximately 6" x 9" unstretched cotton canvas attached to board.

The afterlife I’ve learned about and wondered about as a young black girl growing up in the church is sometimes overshadowed by the afterlife I believe I visit in my dreams. A place populated with familiar yet unfamiliar landscapes, departed ancestors and strangely shaped beings. Where do reality, history, heritage, belief, truth and imagination converge?

"Oh, When You Leave This Earth"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

The Rebirth of Sunday

Acrylic paint and india ink on 6" x 9" latex paper

The Show (Creative Process)

(Acrylic paint, india ink and gesso on 6" x 9" latex paper)

This painting combines my 1980’s childhood and teenage memories of a violent, gritty, gaudy and decadent Times Square in New York with my “grown-up” reflections on the so-called underworld of sex, outcasts, masquerade, stereotypes and exploitation.

Process:

I started this painting with no set intention and and completed a draft of it which you can see below. I left it in this state for awhile thinking I had finished it, though I felt unsatisfied. I contemplated this painting for a few days and wrote about it until, to my surprise, the New York Times Square imagery opened up and I began to weave it into the overall work. As with most of my work, I created this painting with acrylic paint and india ink.



On writing about a painting I've created:

A lot of the writing I do for a painting, in order to understand it more deeply, comes in the form of stream of consciousness and poetry. This approach works very well for me because much of my work comes out of dreams and visions I've had or are currently experiencing. A lot of what I write seems very disconnected from what I've actually created but after ahwile it begins to come together and feel more meaningful to me. It is not always easy to create something from an unconscious place and then try to make sense of it. I've wrestled with this for awhile and decided that it's best to experience what I've created, enter into it and then try to integrate it into a framework that eventually I can accept.

On writing about this particular painting, "The Show"

There is a particular kind of corrupt innocence with which I look at the world which makes paintings like this one fairly cathartic to me. I am facinated by masks, puppets and puppeteers and look back on those waning days of the "real" Times Square with a disturbing nostalgia for the overwhelming presence of peep shows, drug dealers, addicts, arcades, homeless people, filthy movie theaters and prostitutes. Who wasn't a puppet back then? Who's not a puppet right now? And why would anyone actually miss those days in New York and long for them again? What's so wonderful about prostitution, poverty, sex addiction and drug addiction? I guess that depends on who you ask. In truth, although this city took great strides to hide these "undesirables" they still exist - in us and among us. That's why so many people come from around the world to catch just one whiff of what Times Square was before Disney did to it what it did to Grimm's Fairy Tales. Well, for me those days in New York haven't gone away they've simply been driven deeper underground. Times Square was to many people what the internet is now. But to think that the Times Square of today as merely just a wonderful, safe and clean place for tourists with their children to visit and enjoy amuses me because the notion is merely another affectation and mask. [Whew! There goes my native New Yorker cynicism again. At least I'm smiling :) ]

Power of Attorney

Gesso, acrylic inks and paints on 4.25" x 4.25" ceramic tile

The internal and external battle for freedom, power and control.

The Dissent of Sorena Sodby #1 - A Surrealable

oil pastels, acrylic and india ink on 8.5 x 11 vellum paper

A Surrealable: Comic Surrealism (Bassa Bassa Arts Style)- Where stories are streetcars as much as they are baskets of overripe fruit.

Now just who, or what is Sorena Sodby?

Stay tuned for "The Dissent of Sorena Sodby #2"

"The Dissent of Sorena Sodby"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

More Surreal Comics...

Website

Promise

Pencil, ink, acrylc paint and gesso on approximately 10" x 6 and 3/4" paper.

"Promise"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

I'mprettyamIpretty?

pencil, ink, acrylic paint and gesso on approximately 10" by 6 and 3/4" paper.

"I'm pretty am I pretty?"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

Cabin in the Sky

Lena Horne was laid to rest yesterday. I drew this while ruminating on her life and legacy.

"Cabin in the Sky"
pencil, ink and gesso on paper
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

Sugarhill and Gemini

Forget 'Bonnie and Clyde,' but beware 'Sugarhill and Gemini' they'll take your dolls, then steal your dreams.


Acrylic ink, paint and gesso on 14" x 17" vellum paper

Recollection

"Recollection" is my piece exploring what carnival culture means to me as a child of Caribbean immigrants to the U.S.

Acrylic paint and ink on 6" x 9" latex paper.

Check out my new Website

Bassagirl in Sao Paolo -"This Woman is Not Called Jasmine"

Eric Marechal of the wonderful, Street Art Without Borders wheatpasted another one of my paintings on paper - this time in Sao Paolo, Brazil! More to come.

Check out some more of my work pasted by Eric, here:

At Last

"At Last" is the companion piece to Finally.

Acrylic ink and paint on 6" x 9" Latex paper.

"At Last"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
Copyright 2010
all rights reserved.

Finally

I painted, "Finally" after an (aha!)moment!

acrylic ink, paint and pen on 6" x 9" latex paper.

Be the one to own this original. Click here for purchasing information.

The Armstrong Pageant

Some of my surreal, comic strip style storytelling.

Acrylic ink and paint on 9"x 11" canvas paper.

The Underwater Astronaut - Book Cover Art

This book was composed underwater and is to be read underwater. It features an Astronaut who lives and breathes underwater and has many kinds of adventures there.

Here's one found in his diary:

August 21, *********

"There, beyond the Sandwhale Shell Statue(try saying that three times) I discovered the most unusual planet floating amidst the coral. This planet - Spoon shaped and miniscule and full of vegetation, included many walking and flying forms of life, that I could see clearly with my naked eye. I've encountered many planets beneath sea level before but this one called to me like no other.

"Ernest," It said. "Ernest," it continued to speak, though I could see no mouth. Still, that voice drew me in. It was meant for me. I'd swear to it, though my name is not Ernest.

So, against my leader's prior warnings and instructions, and against my best judgment, I swallowed that Spoon Shaped Planet into what I call that Gargantuan, Shallow laboratory of the Self (my belly) to study it further. And though, I was spared indigestion, I wasn't spared anything else..."

Street Art Without Borders - "Noodle" and "The Princess Pays For Parliament" - Pasted in Paris!

These two pieces are feautured on walls in Paris thanks to generous amounts of wheatpaste, courtesy of Eric Marechal who spearheads a wonderful international project called Street Art Without Borders. Since I showcase and sell my original art work to people around the world, Street Art Without Borders and its mission of promoting street art and artists internationally seemed a perfect fit. Over 100 artists located around the world are involved in this project. Check out Eric's site. More of my work featured around the world to come. Stay tuned.

The Arrivers

The Arrivers arrive at a place called Beverly. You have to take the freeway there or go the other way. They chose the freeway but when they arrived they never felt more oppressed. They told the mayor-concierge that they wanted their money back but he had no money to give them, reminding them that the way they chose to come was for free. In fact, the Arrivers though penniless, dined well, but were forced to endure the overwhelming smoke of too many complimentary cigarettes and even had to force themselves to beg for everything they never truly wanted and certainly did not need.

"The Arrivers"
by Tiffany Osedra Miller

Colored pencil, oil pastels and ink on moleskine

Wild is the Wind

paint,ink and pen on 8 and 1/2" x 11" lightweight vellum

The Drill

Pen and ink on 8 and 1/2" by 11" board

Storybook Libation

acrylic ink and paint on an approximately 6 and 3/4" x 6" linen canvas sheet.

I created this piece as an illustration for this vignette:

STORYBOOK LIBATION

Most nights and on some mornings, I wake up to find seven spiders dangling above me as I lay in my cold bed. I can never recall whether or not they emerged from one of the webs hidden deep in the neighborhoods and boroughs of those planets called Dust or if they rose like eight-legged saviors from beneath my dry, frigid skin. They didn't often look like spiders either. They more resembled carousel horses straddled and driven nowhere but in circles by what appeared to be eunuchs wearing nothing but soldier helmets.

The remnants of a spider carousel existed one summer in the basement of the basement of one of the country churches of my youth. I was sure no one else knew of its existence but me and those savior-soldiers who rode their horse-spiders during church services.

From my shelter behind a long abandoned pulpit, I watched those seven beings crawl down webs they'd woven, lead their horse-spiders in unison and then gather together and speak quietly amongst themselves once they reached the floor. They continued this way until one of them let out a long, high note and then they all joined in with a musical overture to precede their ride. To hear them sing in such a state!

As I watched them, the savior-soldiers appeared to me fully clothed in skin and uniform in one moment. In the next, I was accosted with the image of them in various stages of decay; their wounds, black holes or deep fissures impressed on their skeletons. And even in my youth, I understood while watching them, that this was their burial ground.

That summer, I marveled that I could hear the voice of the preacher from so deep within the earth's core where I was. I distinctly remember one Sunday morning as I watched the relentless ride of those soldiers, hearing the Father say: "Forget the five lives of starfish, the nine lives of cats, and the one sinful life you lead and recall, instead, the eight lives of spiders, the eight legs of horses, the high song of eunuchs and the sad spirits of soldiers."

by Tiffany Osedra Miller/aka Bassagirl
Copyright 2010

The News

"The News"
(Mixed media on 8 and 1/2" x 11" lightweight vellum paper)
by Tiffany Osedra Miller

The Earthquake in Haiti

There are many ways you can send aid to Haiti

Please click the link below:

The Earthquake in Haiti Relief Effort