Gigi Mills' work is born out of her desire to simplify and reduce each moment to its essence; she achieves this by omitting mundane details from life that can often obscure genuine experience. She also bears witness to what is often disregarded or held in despair by lifting it up in beauty. Ms. Mills was born in Ohio into the revered Mills Brothers Circus family. It follows that both performance and plastic arts were admired and encouraged during her upbringing. In her early life, ballet and modern dance took up much of Gigi's focus and education. It was not until many years later that she began teaching herself to paint. Though she is influenced by several early and mid-twentieth century painters, she has developed a style that is distinctly her own. Gigi works in oil sometimes glazing to force the light to pass through many thin layers of paint. Sometimes disturbing the surface with scratches or removing bits of paint to expose the underpainting of layers so important to the backbone of a painting. Recent works on paper have become an exploration in texture, and both the ephemeral and sculptural nature of paper. These pieces have a refreshing immediacy having been worked quickly from a pile of oils, torn paper and crayons. No matter what her current technique, style or subject matter, it is always Mills' foremost intention to create work of extraordinary beauty with the ballast of emotional complexity.Working in series allows Gigi Mills to tell a larger story amongst a group of related paintings. The "Procession Series" seems to have subtly spawned from her personal history of being raised within the Mills Brothers' Circus. Burdened animals and clowns occupy a non-space en route to nowhere, and conjure a bittersweet quality. Elements from previous series and signature moments (such as the scroll of the fiddle head) are often intertwining, meeting each other at table amongst a repast of cake, or appearing in some other interior of collected chairs or a familiar chaise.Presented in Mills' paintings is a balancing act of grace, awkwardness and eleganceIt seems that within this work the extraordinary everyday is enlisted to play its role to the fullest."Much of my work comes from memories. I have given myself license to reconstruct dreams, childhood and family memories, and the odd moment from my life. Bits and pieces... some enhanced by distance and imagination or deconstructed to their most elemental prose. A softening, a brightening and in some cases a warming where there was no warmth. In any case, it's perhaps not so important where they come from, but how they might affect another now. It is always my hope that there is a quality in my paintings that will out last, and certainly out shine whatever my original intention."