Devin Miles

Devin Miles is one of the most important artists representing Contemporary German Pop Art.

The genre of Pop Art as it is traditionally understood is usually described using the concept of commerce. In the 1950s and 1960s, the image vocabulary encompassed banal articles of daily use and products of common mass consumption. The intent was to make art accessible to everyone. Even the figures from the silver screen and the heroes of the cinema were supposed to become tangible for cineastes. For the first time, art as editions, as series, became popular, in no small part thanks to the screen prints of Andy Warhol.

The works of Devin Miles are all the more understandable as a homage to Pop Art. But in contrast to the multiples produced on an industrial scale, Miles' silkscreens are time-consuming works produced by hand, making every piece of art unique within the edition. Devin Miles is a story-teller who narrates tales and creates a kaleidoscope around the idols of those times.

He invokes the icons of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s with his images of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Romy Schneider, James Dean, Brigitte Bardot, John F. Kennedy or Steve McQueen. Miles' interpretations are not mere memories, but instead – and much more – a reverential tribute to the power and fascination of an epoch that remain palpable and unrestrained even today. The multi-layered collages comprise images, writing fragments, emblems, logos and typical accessories of that age that have been selected for their appropriateness to the star of the specific picture. In this way, Miles avoids the trap of superficial glamour. He generates a credible as well as authentic emotionalizing. The collages tell their own story, endlessly revealing new interrelationships while deliberately leaving plenty of room for the viewer's own interpretations.