Page 12 - Art First: Jack Milroy: INterVENTIONS

William Packer in his 2003 essay Jack Milroy in Retrospect notes:
‘. . . it has been the cutting and the tearing to see what is inside, and what might be thus,
even in the act of undoing, be remade or otherwise set free, that has lain at the heart
of his work. It is perhaps the image that has always excited him, and excites him still.‘

It is then the fullness of possibility, the many varied visual outcomes of each and every cut, fold,
collage and inversion that drives Milroy on. Here is an artist who is in many ways a product
of the conceptual art movement of the 1960’s, yet who never renounced the visual manifesta-
tion as subordinate to the idea. There is undoubtedly meticulous planning and precise execu-
tion involved in each of the highly complex sculptural forms that emerge from Milroy’s studio,
created to fit their minimalist Perspex vitrines to the millimetre, but these are not works that are
simply the incidental byproduct of an idea. For Milroy the visual richness has always been the
key to firing both his own and the viewer’s imagination–whether in small, deftly executed
works such as Mountain Flowers or in ambitiously scaled and highly technically complicated
works such as the Ophelia series. The power of the original imagery is combined with the thrill
of exploring and reworking–and through a practice that involves no small amount of wit, skill,
patience and bold imagination–Milroy presents us with the familiar in extraordinary configu-
rations and contortions. The sum of this exercise, a collaboration between left and right, collec-
tor and artist, is the creation of truly unique and beautiful works of art.

Matt Incledon
November, 2013

Facing page: Mountain Flowers, 2013 • cut and constructed book, 21 x 21 x 22.5 cm