Some Disassembly Required

August 2nd – September 21st

Opening Reception: Friday, August 2nd 6:00p-9:00p

In 2017, artist and gallery owner Dan Miller survived what should have been a fatal motorcycle wreck. He was the victim of a hit and run. The trauma and subsequent depression was a tough time for Dan, but it also caused a creative spark in him.

Dan conceptualized an exhibition creating pieces dealing with that trauma and severe depression. His experience will be interpreted through robot surrogates. “Some Disassembly Required” tells those stories through derelict suicidal robots and dystopian themes. It seems like a dark concept, and it is, but Dan presents it in a way that is both accessible and reflective.

About the Artist:

Born in 1980 and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Dan Miller is largely a self-taught artist, active in the Cleveland area for more than 16 years, working in many mediums most primarily acrylic and watercolor. With a penchant for illustration heavy work he evokes a whimsy in often heavy or dark subject matter. Dan is also the owner of the newly opened Rant Gallery.

Words from the Artist:

“Although a bit on the nose, there are a few metaphors as apt as depression being a suffocating, omnipresent dark cloud. It is a nauseating, constant companion with a singularity for creating an inescapable force for joy, motivation, self-love, patience, excitement, and dopamine.”

“These things, in a painfully concrete and tangible way, crumbled the foundation on which I was reluctantly building adulthood. The years’ long spiral culminated in what absolutely should have been, not one but two, fatal motorcycle accidents. “

This work attempts to visualize not only the major effects of depression but the constant less discussed tribulations. Depression is not always uncontrollable crying. There is absolutely plenty of that, but more often than not, it is seen in months of undone laundry, a sink full of dishes pulsing with unknown biological agents, obsessive binging on video game, retail therapy, and candy. Depression is being given a year to get ready for an exhibition, an exhibition about depression, that is instead spent avoiding emails, wasting hours staring at blank pages and disappointment. Waking up at noon telling yourself the day is over and that you’ll get up early tomorrow to start. That depression can make you feel as though you’re a passive member of the world, just going through the motions, killing time until you can go back to sleep, a poorly programmed automation just projecting an approximation of happiness. A human shaped depression machine. This work is a confession of a great deal of things I am not proud of but are, as of this writing, unavoidable truths. (I am however proud of each work in this exhibition as painful as these admissions are).

The structure of this exhibition is as much a part of the narrative as the works themselves. The negative space and emptiness are a testament to both what could have been and the painful isolation of depression. Each piece, while connected, is an island from its own perspective. A reminder that the more insidious aspects of trauma and depression is that forced isolation. Isolation both chosen and imagined. Loneliness is the killer.”

You may recognize Maria Neil from around Cleveland, primarily, right here in our community. They had stationed their gallery in the Waterloo Arts District for four years. Our close partnership with MNAP will continue as their venture shifts John Farina and Adam Tully work hard to bring art to nontraditional spaces and encourage collecting. Their statement: “With their move to the Collinwood neighborhood, they opted to launch a gallery space as a way to not only better promote the many unrepresented and underrepresented artists, but also be a part of enhancing the community they live in. Though they closed their gallery space in October of 2017, they have found a new vitality by ‘popping up’ around the city and elsewhere offering art in unique spaces. Operating as a ‘gallery without walls’ is proving a challenge, but also a lot of fun!”