Biography

The art of Michael C. McMillen transports the viewer to a realm where traditional perceptions of reality are momentarily suspended. Using a cunning juxtaposition of real and illusionistic space, he toys with concepts of memory, history, and imagination. His installations, often miniature in scale and rendered in precise detail, revive the ancient tradition of trompe l’oeil—literally art that “fools the eye.” A master of illusions, McMillen builds seemingly parallel universes in which the looks, smells, and sounds seem familiar, but the overall effect is often surreal.

For Los Angeles native McMillen, art has been an important part of life since childhood. As the son of a Hollywood scenic artist, McMillen was continually surrounded by the magic and illusion that characterized his father’s work. As a child, McMillen developed a keen interest in cast-off materials and later became fascinated with the ways in which these objects could be combined to create a range of associations. After high school, McMillen attended San Fernando Valley State College, where he graduated with a B.A. in art in 1969. At the University of California, Los Angeles, he then earned his M.A. in 1972 and M.F.A. in 1973. His early work was mostly installation art, in which he combined the skills he learned in art school with his love of cast-off materials and a growing interest in fabricated environments. His art led him into working in the film industry, creating props and miniatures for Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, and Fox. Among his most famous productions are the fastidiously crafted designs in the futuristic science-fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Blade Runner (1982).

The same formidable trompe l’oeil skills that he used in his two- and three-dimensional model film sets for these movies have emerged in McMillen’s own multimedia installations. In The Third Eye (2001) the artist replicates an archetypical space in miniature in order to investigate the “possibilities of scale alteration and its attendant effect upon a viewer’s perceptions of reality and personal scale.”1 Modeled on his recollection of a typical California head shop of the 1960s, The Third Eye builds a bridge between past and present through a skillful manipulation of sensory experience. The riffs of popular bands from the 1960s can be heard from behind a locked red door, and there is a faint scent of sandalwood lingering in the air. Unable to open the locked door, viewers are compelled to peer through a small peephole in the wooden frame: they glimpse empty interior, worn down by the frequent visits and heavy foot-traffic of patrons. As the artist explains, “Dusty sky lights, ceiling fans, aged wainscoting run up the staircase to the mezzanine landing (a black light poster gallery?). The walls are festooned with posters of the period, images of pop icons, Dylan, Hendrix, Joplin, etc. and concerts at the Fillmore. A miniature strobe light periodically flashes from the back of the interior …”2 Devoid of people but marked by human presence, the mysteriously abandoned space evokes feelings of wonderment, intrigue, and for some, nostalgia. The room appears to be caught somewhere between history and memory. Captivated by the authentic details of the scene, we are momentarily transported from our present-day physical surroundings and seduced by the powerful illusion of McMillen’s excursion into the past. —L.W.

1. Michael C. McMillen, letter to Susan Landauer, 20 April 2001.
2. Ibid.

(SJMA Selections publication, 2004)

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