Sandro Miller
Sandro Miller is an American photographer known for his expressive images, and his close work with actor John Malkovich and the other ensemble members of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Career
At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in July 2011, Sandro was acknowledged with a Saatchi & Saatchi Best New Director Award for his short video “Butterflies” featuring John Malkovich.For the past five years, in juried competition within the industry, Sandro has been voted one of the top 200 advertising photographers in the world.
In 2001 Sandro was invited by the Cuban government to photograph their Olympic athletes. This project was the first US/Cuban collaboration since the trade embargo was imposed in 1960.
Sandro shoots all the promotional photography for Dance for Life, the Midwest's largest performance-based AIDS fundraiser. He also sits on the board of directors for the Museum of Contemporary Photography and is a member of the Chicago Arts Club.
Sandro traveled to Morocco in November 2013 and shot portraits of 230 local tradesmen, nomadic people, snake charmers, fossil diggers, and Gnawa musicians.
In 2014 Sandro re-created 41 photographs paying homage to the world's greatest photographers in a project titled "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters", using John Malkovich as the subject in each image.
On November 2, 2014, in Carnegie Hall, the Lucie Foundation honored Sandro with the “International Photographer of the Year Award” for his achievements in photography.
On October 27, 2015, for the 2nd year in a row, Sandro was honored with the Lucie Foundation’s “International Photographer of the Year Award” for his photography of the "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters" images.
On October 23, 2016 in Carnegie Hall, The International Photography Awards named Sandro the 2016 Advertising Photographer of the Year for his “Advantage Humans” campaign shot for the American Cancer Society.
In November 2016, Sandro's short film "Hell" starring John Malkovich was named the grand-prize winner of the International Motion Art Awards at the annual AI-AP Big Talk event.
Books by Sandro Miller
- I Can't Accept Not Trying
- American Bikers
- Sandro: Figure E Ritratti
- Imagine Cuba 1999-2007
- El Matador, Joselito: A Pictorial Novel
- Sandro Raw, Steppenwolf
- Eyes Of Morocco
- Finding Freedom
- The Malkovich Sessions
- Dance for Life
Exhibitions
- Between October 2002 and January 2003 Sandro had a solo retrospective exhibition of his personal work in the Scavi Scaligeri International Center For Photography in Verona, Italy.
- In 2006 Sandro had a group show with Wesley Kimler at the Architrouve Gallery in Chicago. Sandro showed a selection of his personal work titled Massa, which features nude bodies of large women photographed through Plexiglas.
- In July 2007 Sandro had a solo gallery show at the Alan Koppel Gallery in Chicago. This exhibition consisted of studio photographs of ballet dancers. Sandro donated all proceeds from the sale of prints to the Dance for Life Foundation.
- From October 2 through December 2010 Sandro had a gallery exhibition of 36 of his Cuban photographs, including a previously unexhibited series of black-and-white portraits of elderly Cubans, at the Chicago Cultural Center.
- From November through December 2010 Sandro took part in a group show at the Stephen Daiter Gallery in Chicago, exhibiting prints from his American Biker series and portraits of women.
- From October 2 through November 3, 2012 Sandro had a solo exhibition at the Safety-Kleen Gallery at Elgin Community College titled "Provocative Imperfections". The show featured Sandro’s “Cuban Portraits”, his “Massa” images and a selection from his “Butts & Fronts” project.
- From February 7 through mid April 2013 Sandro had an exhibition of his portraits of Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble members installed in the lobby of the Willis Tower in Chicago. This exhibition featured a 24 by 24 foot grid in the lobby reception consisting of 25 portraits in addition to 34 individual framed prints hung throughout the lobby.
- From March 21 through August 2013 Sandro had a solo exhibition titled “Seen/Unseen” at Loyola University School of Communications in Chicago. “Seen/Unseen” is a collection of Sandro's personal work spanning the last 25 years. Images from his projects American Bikers, Atropa, Cuban Portraits, Massa, and his latest project Peering In: Images of an Over Stimulated Society, were on view.
- From November 7, 2014 through January 31, 2015, Sandro had a gallery exhibition of his project "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters" at the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago. This show featured 41 iconic portraits that Sandro shot with John Malkovich as the subject in each one.
- On February 12, 2015 Sandro’s "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters" exhibition opened at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles.
- On July 6, 2015 an exhibition of 41 images from Sandro’s Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters project opened at the Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles in the south of France.
- From November 15, 2015 to January 15, 2016 Sandro’s Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images was exhibited at the Tumult Gallery in Toruń Poland in conjunction with the Camerimage Film Festival.
- From February 27 to April 9, 2016 Sandro’s 41 Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images were exhibited at the Torch Gallery in Amsterdam.
- From May 12 to July 1, 2016 Sandro’s Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters project was on exhibit at the Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York City.
- From June 2 through August 28, 2016 Sandro had an exhibition at The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow, Russia. The exhibition will feature his Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images. In addition to the homage images, 3 short films and several other images that Sandro created of John during their 20-year collaboration will be shown.
- From October 13 through December 4, 2016 Sandro had an exhibition at the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The exhibition will feature Sandro's Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images along with 3 of his short films.
- From October 15 through January 29, 2017 Sandro had an exhibition at the La Térmica Gallery in Malaga, Spain. The exhibition will feature Sandro's Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images.
- From October 28 through December 3, 2016 Sandro had a group exhibition along with four other internationally celebrated photographers at the La Photographie Galerie in Brussels, Belgium. The exhibition will feature Sandro’s Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images.
- From November 19 through December 9, 2016 Sandro’s Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images were exhibited at the Lianzhou Foto Festival in Lianzhou, China.
- On February 5, 2017 Sandro in collaboration with the Croatian Association of Fine Artists opened an exhibit of his Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters images at the Bačva Gallery, in Zagreb, Croatia.
General references
- The New Yorker, AN AMERICAN ATTITUDE, By Alec Wilkinson, July 10, 1995
- Chicago Reader, Art: A Different Perspective By Tori Marlan, July 20, 2007
- Sandro Miller: Huffpost Arts & Culture American Biker Series
- Chicago Tribune: Sandro Miller Does All Malkovich