FOUND WOOD CONSTRUCTIONS
Mills’ found-wood constructions offer poignant commentaries on the process of urban renewal. His materials—splintered lengths off finishing molding caked with layers of “ghetto -green” enamel paint, brittle laths, dusty battered planks, and bits of signboard salvaged from the gutted interiors of dilapidated buildings—are the artifacts of changing social, economic, and political histories.
Distilled from the architectural features of actual buildings, Mills’ facades, with their sometimes sagging cornices with the pentimenti of deteriorated decorative details, are intimate, brooding portraits of melancholy and despair.
—Garrett Holg, "Reviews: Dan Mills”, New Art Examiner, Summer, 1989
Western Board-up, 1990, Found (polychromed) wood, acrylic, hardware, 66 x 58 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches.
Private collection, Illinois
Ex Habit, 1989, Found (polychromed) wood & metal, acrylic, 55 x 56 1/4 x 6 inches
Urban Building Facade No. 2, 1986-87, acrylic on found polychromed wood, 37 x 64 x 4 inches.
Collection of Phelan, Pope & John, Chicago
ABREVBLDG, 1983, found polychromed wood, 36 x 36 x 2 1/2 inches. Private collection, Oregon
(Re) View (1492), 1992-93, cut-and-pasted printed paper on wood, 20 1/2 x 52 x 2 1/4 inches
Territory Game: Lacrosse, 1994, cut-and-pasted printed paper, mixed media, 40 1/2 x 14 x 3 1/4 inches
Armchair Traveller, 1992-93, cut-and-pasted printed paper on wood, mixed media, 20 1/2 x 63 x 8 inches. Collection of the Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Armchair Traveller, 1992-94, acrylic, cut-and-pasted printed paper on upholstered chair, 34 1/2 x 34 1/2 x 38 inches. (No longer exists)
Homage To Mopetown, 1990, Found (polychromed) wood, brick, hardware, 49 1/2 x 52 x 11 inches
Board-up, 1989, Found (polychromed) wood & hardware, acrylic, 37 x 53 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches.
Collection of JPMorgan Chase, New York
Anchored, 1992-93, mixed media construction, 39 1/2 x 97 x 6 inches + anchor & chain.
Private collection, Washington, DC