They may deny them but they are indubitably proven in the books of Sunan. They may distort their meanings or claim that they apply only to a certain time or certain type of images, but there is no way that this can be the case, because of their general meaning and clear wording. There may be reasons that have developed for granting some concessions regarding that, but reality shows that artists have no motives apart from the pursuit of beauty and fulfilling their desires and responding to their emotions and imagination and whims and desires.  Their purpose is the use this art as a means of earning money and other motives,  all of which cannot be grounds for granting a concession regarding that, when the reasons for prohibiting it are still present and it is a means that leads to the greatest of major sins.