NESTOR MILAN (PUERTO RICO) TRUTH, ORIGIN AND MYTH 16-28/2 1998 PARATIRITIS GALLERY PROXENOY KOROMILA 38 / 264-958 MO-FR 9.30-20.30 SÁ 10.00-14.30 origin / beginning, genesis truth / reality, frankness myth / tale, allegory I’ve decided to entitle this presentation “Origin, Truth & Myth”. It represents a summary as well as a self - appreciation of my photographic work over the last ten years. The pieces conform a selection from five different series of work showing a prevalent exploration of the male figure as primary motive. Based on the choices made the final result shows three major groups of interest. A first one brings out primary elements that holds together my approach towards both the media and it’s subject matter. Formal elements in terms of composition, lighting, form, pose & movement and space designed and defined my style. As a gay puertorican man living in New York during the 1980’s I had a distorted perception of life due to the fears created by the AIDS crisis and prejudice in general. I instictively started threatening and deforming my negatives. Manipulation throughout scratching and tearing (destruction and reconstruction) worked as a tool to remark the human body’s fragility. Since I have to face the death of many close friends and a partner I stoped working this way. I learned certain lessons outgrowing fear and accepting facts. I’m concentrating more on the printing of my images handling layers of both torn and clear-cut sheets of tissue, rice and waxed papers over my photographic sheets. I have kept altering the image’s formal harmony by softening it with an eerie character. A second group of work steps into the 1990’s based on less histrionic images, focusing in biographical notes and portraiture. A third and recent group builds up false scenes intensifying and addressing the knowledge gained on through life. This insight brings me and my work back to certain origins in terms of both the disbelief and the affirmations maturity brings out. Issues such as existence (life & death), new approaches towards AIDS, hope, my own sexuality and that of other men, friendships, love and lonesomeness are now unveiled through symbols and minimal visual information. Nestor Millan was born in San German, Puerto Rico, 1960. Studied Humanities with a major in Fine Arts at the University of Puerto Rico. Independent studies in video, photography and modern dance at Pratt Institute, New York, where he also completed graduate studies in photography and printmaking. Since 1988 he works as an assistant professor at the Fine Arts Department of the University of Puerto Rico. He has exhibited his work in personal shows in United States and Puerto Rico, and also in a large number of group shows in United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, Brasil, Mexico, Finland, Egypt, Holland, Japan, Colombia and Venezuela.