The Works of Alan

Through sponsorship of The Guild and The United Artists of New York, Alan Miller has launched a nationwide lecture series exploring the fundamental causations of conflicts in contemporary society, by the simple act of photographic artists recording all phases of the human drama.

We can gather through understanding of the human spirit that prehistoric tribes carried the same talents that exist today. A blacken stick was pulled from the fire and was used to create marks on a cave wall, the skin, or to attempt to create an understanding of the cosmos. Thus began the record of recorded images. But by creating this simple act, a division between those with vision and those without was established. It also gave rise to the power of images whose survival through time can still impact our current society.

“I believe it is true to say,” stated Alan, “that the power of an image through photography creates ripples beyond anyone’s comprehension.” “I would hazard a guess that the world would trade every portrait ever painted depicting “the Christ” for one photograph of him. When disaster strikes, after the family is secure, people rush in to collect the family photographs because “they are irreplaceable.” Be it so, it is extraordinary to myself and the photographic community of artists throughout the United States that document the many phases of the human drama, should be shaken by the ire of modern day anti-culturalists.”

The world is not governed by the precepts of the Disney Corporation, but in today’s world, rightwing extremist as well as law enforcement act as if it is. It is a very well defined group of people who have established themselves as anti-culturalists.

Currently, when photographer Annie Liebowitz created the exquisite of portrait of Miley Cyrus which reflected an 18th century portrait, and Cyrus who is under contract with Disney for the billion dollar franchise Hanna Montana, the anti-culturalists were shocked.

We are happy to note that the same people were not in control when the Venus of Willendorf was discovered. The Venus of Willendorf is an icon of Paleolithic art from the Gravettian period (c.28, 000 - 19,000 BC) that depicts a short naked female that was originally painted red and is considered a mother goddess and/or fertility icon for young women. This priceless relic would be considered pornographic by the anti-culturalists and would have been destroyed if they had their way. This artifact is one of the oldest surviving icons in the world and thankfully resides at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna and away from Americans.

Abusus non tollit usus, “the abuse of a thing should not take away the use of a thing,” and yes, there are people who create evil through imagery, yet in the landmark case of the 1990 State of Ohio vs. photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, established that life exists before the lens of a camera regardless of the disagreement of the anti-culturalists.

Seven Mapplethorpe photographs were put on trial in Cincinnati Ohio in 1990 and were defended successfully by art scholar’s Janet Kardon and Jacquelynn Baas, directors of the University Art Museum at Berkeley. They interpreted the Mapplethorpe’s images out of fundamental literalness into a formalist analysis as art understandable to the mythic “Average American”.

The 1990 Mapplethorpe case in Cincinnati was the first such prosecution of an art gallery in U.S. history. On April 7, 1990, the Contemporary Arts Center and its director, Dennis Barrie, were charged with pandering obscenity and the use of a minor in nude materials in a suit fueled by the “National Council Against Pornography” and its Cincinnati connection “Citizens for Community Values.” The indictment cited, out of the Mapplethorpe photographs in The Perfect Moment, two portraits, one of a boy nude (”Jesse McBride, 1976″) and one of a girl with her genitals exposed (”Honey, 1976″), and five other photographs depicting typical late 1970s homoerotic or sadomasochistic images. The jury declared Mapplethorpe’s work was valid and serious art thus ending the trial on October 5, 1990. This trial and its findings have acted as a legal cornerstone for photographers who have been charged by society for violating a constant flow of illogical morality laws.

Alan Miller is a serious artist, and in late spring of 2008 his studio and home were raided under the same pretext. This raid was not just a clear and identifiable violation of fundamental rights, but a direct attack on artistic freedom and pursuits of all serious photographers throughout the United States.

The legacy of our Founding Fathers gave us the Constitution and the freedoms in which we live by. George Bush and the anti-culturalists have given us The Constriction, a one-size-fits-all vision of the future coupled with enacted laws that gives sweeping powers to police forces as they transform into paramilitary units that rage into the private lives of the very citizenry they are charged to protect.

Yet Alan’s lecture series are about hope. At this moment the creations may be under attack, but the creators will always survive. The work of photographers, like all artists, will outlive their critics and will have a direct impact on our culture. Michelangelo (1475 - 1564) and his aesthetic vision of the Sistine Chapel are brought to mind. During the Reformation, the duly elected band of political anti-culturalist painted over parts of Michelangelo’s vision in order to bring his enlightened work in line to the sensibilities of the day.

But like all political illusionist from Reformationist to George Bush, images created by artists with vision will always outlive the politicians, and on a happy note, the Sistine Chapel has recently been restored to Michelangelo’s original grandeur.

Viva La Rasa

Posted by the Friends of Photographer Alan Miller

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 10:52 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.