Steve Miller

Artist Statement
The earth has given it’s response to Covid-19. We have neglected and exploited nature and pushed animals into a conflict with humans. Humankind has crowded out nature to such an extent, by living in close proximity and stress, that disease can jump from animal to human. This pandemic, like climate change, has been predicted for years. What is astounding is how quickly nature recovers when we are forced into our homes and we just let nature be. The lesson is obvious. “Health of the Planet” is a project started in Brazil in 2005 and continues today as a visual medical checkup of the flora, fauna and land use in the Amazon, the lungs of our planet. The first sculpture for this project was made for Longhouse Reserve in 2008. It now sits in my garden in front of my Sagaponack studio. The image is an x-ray of an Amazon orchid made in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Steve Miller
Glass Longhouse, 2008
Inkjet, glass, steel
60.5 x 31 x 1 inches

Steve Miller
Iguana, 2014
Inkjet, laminated glass, bronze
78 x 36 x 2 inches

Biography
Steve Miller has been working with art, science and technology since 1980. He has collaborated with the 2003 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Rod MacKinnon, on a project about human protein. He has worked at Brookhaven National Labs and at CERN in Geneva where he lectured to the Theory Group. For a decade, Miller worked on a photographic project about the Amazon. Miller proposed to give Brazil, our planetary lungs, a medical check-up by taking x-rays of the flora and fauna. The project entitled “Heath of the Planet” has been published as two monographs, Radiographic and Surf/Skate, by Glitterati Editions. His work has been presented as solo exhibitions in Paris, Hong Kong, Rio, London, Boston, New York City and, most recently, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.