Steve Miller "Neomort"

"As technology improves, many think the dead could be kept artificially breathing and functioning for months, even years. These newly named Œneomortsı could then be used as whole body storage systems for spare organs and blood supply......"
Andrew Kimbrell "The Human Body Shop"

"Neomort", an exhibition exploring the parallel symbols of paintingıs earlier tradition of Vanitas, with the ways in which technology has made death more transparent, and even into a commodity. The imagery in Millerıs work yields awareness of the fleeting moments of human history, particularly amidst the triumphant materialism rampant during the 16th century and permeating into the 21st century. Vanitas, invoking traditional still-life painting, is concerned with symbolic objects of death - skulls, hourglasses, wilting flowers, candles, musical instruments etc. Millerıs work draws on these cultural icons and expands them into contemporary practice through his employment of current technologies such as the MRI scan, the sonogram, and the X-ray.

In addition, Millerıs images underscore the current societyıs dilemma which glorify material possessions in an attempt to escape death. Even death, in our society can be reconfigured through technology. Millerıs work becomes a lens to examine this current condition. Technology becomes the means by which to view the culture at large. The indiscernability of science is the metaphor one can use for this constantly morphing culture.

Steve Miller, producing work in digital formats since 1984, is considered to be one of the great colorists of our times. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and is included in many private and public collections.

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