Incurable Romantic Seeks Dirty Filthy Whore Now Harland Miller

HARLAND MILLER, INCURABLE ROMANTIC SEEKS DIRTY FILTHY WHORE NOW, PENGUIN PRINTS, SIGNED DIGITAL PRINT, EDITION OF 35, 2011

Incurable Romantic Seeks Dirty Filthy Whore Now is an exquisite example of Miller’s quintessential, biting and satirical sense of humour characterizing his whole oeuvre but especially crystalizing in his Penguin Series. The original oil painting for this digital pigment print was produced in 2012 by the artist, currently held in a Private Collection after being in the possession of Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh, who had purchased it for Miller’s exhibition Harland Miller: Overcoming Optimism in 2012–13. It is one of the later works in the series Miller started in 2001 upon stumbling across a box of second-hand Penguin books near the Notre Dame in Paris. In this iconic series Miller explores the relationship between the written word, form and image, and the audience’s perception through inserting his own humorous and at times provocative titles into the well-known designs of the vintage books that often voice social critique. These works nod to influences of Abstract Expressionism, Colour Field and Pop Art, as well as Miller’s literary influences like Ernest Hemingway. Incurable Romantic Seeks Dirty Filthy Whore Now has multiple versions within the series with the title shown across different background colours, which is how Miller plays with the meaning of language and the viewer’s psychological engagement with his texts. This print is unique in that instead of his usual monochrome cover, he uses a geometrical illustration with colourful circles and black lines in a minimalist style.

Read more about Penguin prints by Harland Miller.  

ABOUT HARLAND MILLER

Harland Miller is a British writer and artist, born in Yorkshire in 1964, best known for producing a series of paintings based on Penguin book covers, including International Lonely Guy and Fuck Art Let’s Dance. Miller’s work explores the relationship between words and images. His paintings, sculptures and mix-media artworks combine the two to comment on the frequent disconnect between representation and reality. Learn more about Harland Miller.