Art exhibit displays portraits of homeless

PORT ANGELES — The Second Weekend Art Opening at Studio Bob will feature “Invisible Neighbors, Paintings of the Homeless by Daniel Miller.”

The free show — for all ages and dog-friendly — also will have live music by Tin Sandwich from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Studio Bob, 118½ E. Front St., Port Angeles. The show also will be open from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Miller moved to Port Angeles from Las Vegas, Nev., about four years ago. His paintings are of homeless people in the Las Vegas area, he said.

“I have created the “Invisible Neighbors” series of paintings with the purpose of calling attention to the alarming surge of the homeless population in America,” Miller said in a press release.

“Recent years have seen more and more of our citizens panhandling, dumpster diving and depending on shelters for survival,” he added.

“This scenario continues to increase in cities all across the country,” Miller said. “Whether the result of changing technologies or corporate greed, we cannot continue to ignore the humanity of these individuals and their situations.

In the press release, he said that “those of us who are more fortunate in our economic status find it all too easy to look away and pretend that we are not connected.”

In an interview on Thursday, he said: “I want so much to bring some awareness to inspire some motivation to do something about it.

“Sweeping them under the rug so you can’t see them is not a solution,” he added.

Miller began the series in April 2015.

He said he was driving to downtown Las Vegas to a gallery for an opening of his work and saw in the entry foyer of a vacant commercial building a homeless person who was playing chess with himself.

“I was moved by the realization that, in spite of having lost everything, by whatever events or choices, this person was still an engaged and thinking human,” he said.

“I felt a connection. That passing glimpse lasted only a couple of seconds, but in my mind’s eye, I immediately ‘saw’ it as a painting. The idea took hold and I felt compelled to apply my art to help increase focus on this embarrassment to our society.”

Invisible Neighbors will be on display through May and available to see by appointment, 415-990-0457.