STRATUM
May/June 2018
Miller, Geankoplis, Zablocki, and Schur
Health of the Planet #709, 2016, carbon inkjet, silkscreen on cotton rag
Steve Miller is a multifaceted artist who has been working at the intersection of art and technology since the 1970s. His recent exhibition at the National Academy of Science in Washington DC, featured works from his timely and relevant series, “The Health of the Planet.” Recognized as a pioneer of the SciArt movement, Miller’s work has tackled such subjects as financial commodity trading, Rorschach blots, DNA, and unconscious dreaming, to name a few. Miller’s current body of work uses x-ray images of flora and fauna native to the Amazonian rainforest, upon which he then layers screen-prints and paint, including satellite maps of the bulldozed logging roads. These multiple layers underscore the threat to the delicate balance and interdependency of the forest and rivers and their creatures – the “stratum” of nature. On the “micro-scale,” penetrating the surface and time, the x-rays peer through the beauty of the skin of the animal towards its future skeletal remains. And on the “macro-scale,” images from space revealing the massive scale of the exploitation of resources.