Mills' works on paper employ advertising imagery and humor to comment on the American desire to exert global dominance. Three collages comprise United States Empire (2004) These works play on the Sherman Williams Cover the Earth logo in which a globe is being coated with paint poured from a paint can tipped above. In Mills's pieces the paint can is labeled USE and the poured paint is a rich, blood red. On each piece is written, respectively, Cover the Earth, Covet the Earth, and Coven the Earth. These and Mills's related works on display are an obvious critique of the predatory and invasive tendencies of American culture.
—Carrie McGee, No: 56, Misleading Trails, Spring/Summer 2006
United States Empire (Cover), 2004, acrylic, collage and graphite on paper, 14 3/4 x 21 5/8 inches. Private collection, Chicago