There has been so much interest in this article that we wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to read it -so here it is again. Enjoy!
Progressive human culture in the late 20th century was experiencing a cresting obsession with breaking every sociological and political barrier that could be intellectually defined in the name of freedom, expression and unfettered exploration. Social structures in the western world were examined, reexamined and exploded with the desire to find the core of life, and the next fresh breeze of experimental truth. The long and short list of art movements in the 20th century brought forth everything imaginable – surrealism, radical politicism, pop art, op art, abstract realism, surrealism, modernism, postmodernism and many mini-isms too numerous to recant. It had been a glorious century for the art world because there were many corners to turn as consciousness moved away from the limitations of the 19th century and science came into it’s own as the new god, and the new empirically derived information led consciousness into a magnificent freedom encompassing a larger, more rational examination of all facets of human, animal and physical life. In the performing arts, all manner of this new examination was explored and every artist dreamt new horizons into being that promised to free them from the conservative uninformed dogma of religious superstition.
In the 1960’s, pop culture caught up in the frenzy of the “love†generation produced an unrelenting media and entertainment explosion in the music and film business’s that managed to break every established barrier in American and world culture. History has elevated that era of tremendous change into the mythic realm – the magical mystery tour of consciousness expansion and an un-fettering of all boundaries.
So one should not have been surprised while traversing the 1970’s and 80’s, to see the growth of the art and consciousness trends discovered and begun during this powerful period of change solidify into established forms. The new feminism, gay liberation, ethnic and racial liberation, and the economic and social justice of today came out of that powerful transitional period. These new social paradigms, which began in the imaginations of artists and creators from that time, formatted themselves first for social acceptance, then social approval, and ultimately into social normalization. Gay marriage, once unheard of, is now legal in Massachusetts, and women and minorities have been increasing their presence in business and government positions steadily for decades – situations that were completely unthinkable and impossible 40 years ago.
Accompanying this meteoritic pace of change has been a continual retrogressive and resistant reactivity that views these great changes as misguided, undesirable and frightening. This should be expected, as any kind of change generally leaves most feeling uncomfortable and unsure. But human evolution is interminable regardless of personal resistance and fears. It is just a universal fact that is undeniable, and can be made more enjoyable when it is explored and embraced. It is what humans do at their best –learn new things every day thereby expanding their horizons and hearts. In fact it is the only really credible “salvation†in existence.
Pop art was a very capable art – for it did not seek to invent as much as reflect what was happening in the zeitgeist of popular culture. And when that culture mandated homogenization of a new social ethos as a new core value, it was really a straightforward task to reflect that newly establishing homogenization of cultural idioms.
In 1988 when Omni Art emerged, the focus of consciousness was shifting to an investigation into the invisible realities beneath the surface of the physical universe. At first, dozens and then hundreds of films and books came out about everything from basic psychic phenomenon and parapsychology, to quantum physics and inter-dimnesional travel. It was in this culturally inspired consciousness evolution that the Omni Art Movement of the 21st Century was born.
In 1988, when artist Jeffrey Milburn founded Omni Art in New York City, the cultural milieu was ripe for the emergence of something that was so far reaching that it even left the MTV generation challenged to look further and deeper. So when Milburn mounted the first Omni Art Museum Exhibition, few understood what was actually taking place, and viewed his art with the blank stare of a deer in the headlights one would have if an alien spacecraft had just landed in their backyard.
Interestingly enough, that was exactly what was happening to many thousands of ordinary people –as there was a great jump in reports of “close encounters†with alien beings that had left many bewildered, questioning and afraid.
And Omni Art had landed at one of the premiere art museums in New York, and like the abducted, the critics and writers were mute. Most had become so entrenched and vested in postmodernism that had defined the New York scene for so long; that they simply were not equipped to write about an art that explored through quantum physics a 5 dimensional cosmological model of the universe. Modern and postmodern art had become stuck in it’s own limited vocabulary of 20th century political and Newtonian scientific knowledge.
Omni Art is an art movement of the 21st century not because it follows so easily behind the multiple styles of postmodernism, but because it is a radical departure from them. It is as if the “language of reality†had leapt from a 25-word vocabulary to a 25,000-word vocabulary, and there were no dictionaries to refer to for explanation unless one was willing to explore and study from multiple sources of quantum physicists and spiritual masters. So it’s no wonder that Omni Art remains largely unrecognized by the gatekeepers of the postmodern status quo in art museums and galleries around the world. And this is to Omni Art’s credit, because traditionally the status quo has never embraced new art at it’s birth, that recognition has always been reserved for a socially and economically safe retrospective. Today it is no different.
Omni Art embraces the greater view of all things, and with a greater view one can either grow afraid, or become fascinated and desire to understand and master that greater view. Omni Art challenges you to become a master of that greater view. After all, what is art for if not to expand your horizons, inspire your heart, and lift you to become an ever-greater divine knower of life? And so today, in 2006, the invitation to do just that has grown to now include thousands of listeners to this podcast in over 23 countries around the world, each with their own unique understandings and interests. This is a democracy of global spirituality unencumbered by the gatekeepers of postmodernism and it is free, truthful and direct.
A new consciousness culture is establishing itself at an accelerating pace, and Omni Art it there; doing what it has done since it first began 25 years ago– opening the window for a breath of fresh air, light and sound to break the constraints of common illusions to welcome in the divine spark of life that everyone truly is. In this recognition each individual is empowered to be their own divine illuminator in their own personal realm of influence, and this is the true transformation of power, wisdom and freedom that all seek.
Thank you for tuning in to the Omni Art Salon, and thank you for passing it on, after all, it’s all about you, and who and what you really are.
Jeffrey interviews John Flax, Artistic director of Theater Grottesco in Santa Fe. Founded in Paris in 1983 by Flax and Didier Maucort, Theater Grottesco has created 10 full length plays and more than 30 shorter pieces, performed in seven countries, 30 states, and hundreds of smaller communities, garnering an international award for Best Production, two Drama Critics Awards, and a silver medal with Detroit’s Zone V Productions from the Houston Worldfest Film Festival. Company members have served in the acting ensemble at the Sundance Institute in Utah. Grottessco has been on the juried Western States , Arts Midwest , and Michigan Touring Rosters. It has received a Rockefellar MAP Fund grant, a Ford Foundation Grant and ten National Endowment for the Arts Professional Theater Program grants. In 1985 Theater Grottesco moved to the United States, basing out of New York and Detroit, before moving to Santa Fe, NM in 1996.
Jeffrey interviews 
Jeffrey interviews Jaren Bonillo, Program Manager for