Millen sculptures charm at private show

David Millen: Sculpture
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It was a beautiful Sunday in David Millen's private sculpture garden. Millen, a periodontist by trade but a sculptor by heart, was having his annual by-invitation-only show of his work-new pieces and older-and work by his students in classes at North Haven High School and elsewhere. A number of Millen's works, public commissions, are on view at locales throughout the greater New Haven area.

He has a fascination with balance and movement. Perhaps this is inspired by balancing his work life of dental medicine with his spiritual life as an artist. At any rate, his works are overwhelmingly figurative. For a number of years he had worked with cement as his sculptural medium, deriving rough surfaces as he encrusted it over his armatures. But the past three years Millen's work has been inspired by the acrobatic artistry of Cirque de Soleil. He also works in epoxy resin, a two-part synthetic clay. The epoxy allows him to pay increasing attention to the surface, controlling its almost marble-like coloration. He also polishes it to accentuate the sleekness of his stable of acrobats, jugglers, dancers and tightrope walkers.

Millen's figures are simplified, streamlined. It's a graceful shorthand that channels the energy of movement into the depiction of a frozen moment. They are imbued with joie de vivre. And, in the sweet crisp sun of summer's last glimmering, they shined with the pleasure of performing outdoors.