Born in rural Northumberland, Alex Giles now lives and works in Manchester. After graduating in Fine Art from the University of Derby, Giles embarked on a career in film, working through the ranks of the art department to the role of Production Designer. The desire to create art never left Alex, but time and space for a focused approach was scarce in the freelance film world.
When the U.K. went into lockdown Alex was able to dedicate his full attention to painting, and things moved fast. Giles’ first solo show ‘Eye Hurters’ opened late 2020 at the White Elephant Gallery, Morecambe, and the entire collection (plus an additional 25 pieces) was acquired by the Deji Museum, Nanjing, China. Following this he went on to exhibit in a number of international group shows in Hangzhou, Berlin and Hamburg, and his third solo exhibition ‘Protractivism’ opened January 2023 at Galeria Marimón, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
“It could be observed that the tactile and vibrant painting of Alex Giles derives in part from the post-painterly abstraction that Clement Greenberg coined, drinking from sources as transcendental as Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis or Frank Stella. We can say that Giles's painting starts in geometry but introduces the organic, that the gesture adds life, and the hard edges exist to emphasize his colour fields. But above all we can say that the empathic painting of Alex Giles serves, among other things, to make us happy. And that is no small thing.” Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta – January 2023
