Artist's Statement
Major themes that guide my art are the emotions of hope and fear and how they affect the human spirit. In today’s culture, our ideas and sense of self-worth are manipulated and sometimes hijacked by the media and marketing. The philosophical quests for individuality, truth, and purity become quixotic battles that may be unwinnable. In my artwork humans pursue hope in a world filled with fear.My creative expressions are a collaboration of both intuitive artistic inspiration and source materials. In my more intuitive artworks, I follow my creative impulses as I strive for balance and unity in the composition. This active and reactive process is liberating as ideas are played out without knowing the outcome. Suggestive biomorphic forms provide the picture-plane with a structure closer to a land of dreams than reality. Other paintings are carefully planned. I work from drawings, photographs, collages, and use the computer to organize my ideas. Once my ideas are conceptualized, I focus my efforts on color, form and technique.
The human figure can be seen in many of my paintings and drawings because it is universally recognized and very expressive. I also use symbols from popular culture that people can relate to and guide them in understanding the theme of the artwork.
My art, like life, is an outlandish habitat, open-ended in meaning and suggestive to interpretation. The viewer may experience hope, humor, curiosity, or disgust. Will the subject fall or soar, discover truth or deceit, experience love or rejection? The artwork is the arena where these tales unfold, and life’s uncertainties are explored.
-Miles Halpern
(please contact the artist for inquiry about artworks, availability, commissions, and prices)
Education
2006
M.F.A.in Painting, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
2004
B.F.A., The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL
2003
B.S., Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Summa Cum Laude, Periclean Honors Society
Exhibitions
3/2011
5th Annual Emerging Artists Winter Exhibits, Morpho Gallery, Chicago, IL
2/2011-6/2011
Special Juried Exhibition, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
6/2010-7/2010
LCAA National Juried Exhibition 2010, Lancaster County Art Association Gallery
4/10-6/2010
Art as Emotion, Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA
9/2009
Transition (solo show), Doshi Gallery, in the Susquehanna Museum of Art, Harrisburg, PA
9/2009
Kish Faculty Art Show, Kishwaukee College, Malta, IL
5/2009
Part 1: “The Hand” Drawing Collaborative, New York, NY
9/2008
Kish Faculty Art Show, Kishwaukee College, Malta, IL
8/2008
Drawings of Miles Halpern, The House, DeKalb, IL
6/2008
Assorted works by Miles Halpern, , Main Street Gallery, Lancaster, PA
1/08-2/2008
Near and Far: Drawings of Miles Halpern, Isadore Gallery, Lancaster, PA
9/07-8/2008
VanGo! , Doshi Gallery, Harrisburg, PA
9/2007
Kish Faculty Art Show, Kishwaukee College, Malta, IL
6/07-7/2007
The Innovation Generation, Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation, Jim Thorpe, PA
6/2007
Works on Paper, Isadore Gallery, Lancaster, PA
2/07-3/2007
Ways To Go (2-person show), Hygienic Art Gallery, New London, CT
12/2006
Art Group Show , Williamsburg White Room, New York, NY
6/2006
Mobile Fables (Solo Show), Isadore Gallery, Lancaster, PA
7/2006
Go Figure (Group Show), Isadore Gallery, Lancaster, PA
4/2006
Vagabond in Happyland: PSU Graduate Thesis Show, Zoller Gallery, State College, PA
2003-07
Open Awards Show, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA
3/2006
PSU Visual Arts Graduate Research Exhibition, HUB-Robeson Gallery, State College, PA
1/06-2/2006
The Hygienic XXVII Annual Exhibition, Hygienic Art Gallery, New London, CT
10/2005
Grand Opening Group Exhibition, Isadore Gallery, Lancaster, PA
3/2005
PSU Visual Arts Graduate Research Exhibition, HUB-Robeson Gallery, State College, PA
1/12/2005
An Evening of Performance, Art Zoller Gallery, State College, PA
2005
Annual Demuth Invitational, Demuth Foundation, Lancaster PA
2004
BFA Art Exhibition, Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
5/2003
Senior Art Exhibition, Tang Museum of Art, Skidmore College, NY
3/2003
Behind the Looking Glass, Case Center, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Professional
2007-Present
Full-Time Professor of Art, [Painting I, II, Drawing I, II, Life Drawing I, II, 2-D Design, & Intro to Visual Art], Kishwaukee College, Dekalb, IL
Summer 2006
Instructor, [Visual Concepts], Summer SIX, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
2004-2006
Instructor, [Drawing I, Painting I], Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Spring 2003
Teaching Assistant, [Intaglio Printmaking], Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY