TamGiles

TAM GILES

phone: 0207 231 9041

Born UK but for nearly forty years lived in various countries as well as UK. First studied art briefly in Taller Torres Garcia, Uruguay. Later, BFA & MFA, Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC.
Settled finally in London 1970.
Tutor in Art Schools 1970 – 1978;
Studio Workshop Head, Byam Shaw School of Art 1979 – 1987;
Tutor for AE Art classes, London Borough Ealing 1989 – 1997;
1997 with Marcus & Arthur de Mowbray, bought and set up 330 Studios.

Four years studying art studies in USA introduced me to the 'isms' of sixties' art, and my instinct guided me to Op and 'Hard Edge'. When I returned to London and met British Constructivists I recognised the significance of my brief time with Jose Gurvich, Tutor at the Taller Torres Garcia. Almost without realizing it, I had absorbed the visionary idealism of the original Constructive movement. It permeated the Taller including Gurvich, a Jewish refugee from Lithuania..

Constructivism in the UK and USA is widely misrepresented. Its formal strategies are seen as ‘empty formalism’, but to me these should be seen as no different from the explanations of composers and musicologists explaining, say, the intricacies of a Bach fugue. ‘How it is put together’ is only part of a whole which goes beyond the evident strategies.

TIDE TABLES

'These drawings are derived from figures for tidal levels at different sites. Coastal configurations modify the basic regularity of tidal rhythms so each drawing is a sort of individual portrait but always express a quality of ebb and flow.'

click on tide pictures to see larger version