Tanja Jade McMillan (born Tanja Jade Thompson, also Tanja Jade, and Misery 1982, Maryborough,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) is a graffiti artist, and painter of Tahitian and

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descent best known as Misery, is currently based in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Art career

McMillan started painting as Misery since she was at

Auckland Metropolitan College Auckland Metropolitan College was a state coeducational alternative secondary school located in the suburb of Mount Eden in Auckland, New Zealand. It was closed in 2001 by the Minister of Education. See also *Auckland Girls' Grammar School ...

in 1997, where she became friends with fellow student, Elliot O'Donnell, best known as Askew, who given McMillan the name Misery. In 2010, McMillan temporarily abandoned the name Misery at age 28 when she felt the brand Misery was consuming her, by ceremonially auctioning off the last of the Misery works at Webb's auction house in Auckland. McMillan has since reclaimed the name Misery and describes her style as kimo-kawaii, creepy and cute in Japanese. Her husband is a well known New Zealand tattoo artist Tom McMillan, best known as Tom Tom. There are two bronze sculptures named ''Twist'' and ''Thief'' by McMillan on Karangahape Road, commissioned by

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...

, to be part of Auckland Council Art Collection in collaboration with John Oz. McMillan have collaborated with many well known designers and brands, such as New Balance, Blunt, Bitra,

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Baby-G, Telecom, Serato and

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. McMillan has been shown extensively in New Zealand and internationally such as

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and

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Selected solo exhibitions

* 2023: ''Happy Valley'', Outré Gallery,

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

, Australia * 2021: ''Fountain of Flowers'', 12 Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand * 2021: ''Tang Tang'', Outré Gallery, Fitzroy,

* 2011: ''Momoka'',

Backwoods Gallery Backwoods Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, Australia. Founded in August 2010 the gallery exhibits Australian and international artists with a focus on urban contemporary art, street art St ...

, Collingwood, Australia * 2010: ''Misery'', Shed 2, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected group exhibitions

* 2023: ''Horizon,'' Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand * 2023: ''A Place to Call Home - Contemporary New Zealand Asian Art,'' Bergman Gallery, Auckland,

* 2023: ''Vanguard'', Outré Gallery,

Australia * 2022: ''Shiny Things'', The Mercury Plaza, Auckland, New Zealand * 2021: ''The Most Dedicated: An Aotearoa Graffiti Story,'' Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, New Zealand * 2021: ''Group Exhibition'', Outré Gallery, Fitzroy Australia * 2021: The Maxx Dose, Corbin Estate Art Centre, Auckland, New Zealand * 2020: ''Yokai! Yokai!'', Outré Gallery, Melbourne Australia * 2020: ''Perspective - Women in Urban Art'', Fiksate Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand * 2015: ''The Self-Drawing Hand (La Main qui dessinait toute seule),'' Danysz Gallery, Paris, France

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Tanja 1982 births Living people Artists from Auckland 21st-century New Zealand artists New Zealand artists Australian artists New Zealand painters Australian painters