The tactile, expressive qualities of paint are an important part of Judy Millar’s work. She applies colour onto the canvas using a combination of brushes, rags and her hands. Then, by ‘un-painting’ the surface, erasing and wiping paint, she creates broad, sweeping marks and bands of colour.

Millar’s paintings show her interest in the physicality of mark-making. A particular palette of colour is employed and certain movements chosen to provide different effects. The Shooting Gallery is a three-dimensional exploration of the picture plane. Millar says, “The joy and charm of painting for me is the illusion and virtual space that it sets up… a completely dismantled kind of shimmering, hovering one.”

Millar is a full-time artist. In 2003 she was the Dunedin Public Art Gallery artist in residence, and in 2002 she won the Wallace Art Award. She has exhibited widely within New Zealand and internationally. Recently, she has been chosen to represent New Zealand at the 2009 Venice Biennale.