Dutes Miller’s phallic sculptures are driven by an investigation of queer male sexuality through a tactile exploration of materials, most often plaster, resin and paint and also including fabric, feathers, horns and other found objects. Miller is interested in the notion of an object that is penetrable (orifice) versus one which penetrates (phallus); appearing to be in states of transition, his sculptures attempt to find the potential conflation of the two. In his collages and artist books, he examines the spaces where the artist’s inner life, queer subcultures and mass media intersect, appropriating images from pornographic websites, magazines and his own imaginings to investigate alternative standards of beauty, visualizations of lust and desire found on the internet, and power dynamics in sexual relationships. Michelle Grabner wrote in ArtForum, “Miller’s mixed-media collages on paper incorporating penis figures striking silly states of repose and activity are enjoyable vignettes, demonstrating nimble material interplay.”
Dutes Miller’s work has been written about on artforum.com, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago, New City, and the Chicago Tribune. His collaborative work with his husband Stan Shellabarger, as Miller & Shellabarger, won a 2008 Artadia Award and a 2007 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation award and has been written about in Art in America, Artforum.com, Art & Auction, Frieze, Artnet, The Art Newspaper, Flash Art, and the Chicago Tribune. Miller received a BFA from Illinois State University. He is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago and lives and works in Chicago.