Steve Miles NAPA
Originally from Warley in the West Midlands, Steve moved to the Isle of Wight in 1994 and worked as a Graphic Designer for various Island companies, and is currently working for Stainless Games Ltd. as a Graphic Designer and Artist on videogames.
He began painting graffiti in the early 1980s under the tag Toxic363.
Steve says, "At an early age (around 11) I was introduced to what was, at the time, a little known cultural phenomenon from the States called 'Hip Hop'. I was not much good at the Breaking but I was intrigued by the Graffiti section of the article that featured the Bronx writer Brim. I was really into drawing so I started to get in to the Graff by practicing my own letters every day at school and often into the early hours of the morning at home. I was hooked like some kind of Alphabet junkie! I spent my teenage years painting Graffiti, and was in various Crews over the years, but the one I have stuck with is TIC (the Imperial Creations)."
Steve decided to take his artwork more seriously and get into Graphic Design as a career, and in 1992 enrolled in a general art and design course at Stourbridge Art College.
**Below this profile is a selection of Available and Sold works by this artist. Just click on one of the 'Shop Available Artwork' buttons to go to the shop and browse ALL available pieces : )
In 1994 after a move to Freshwater on the Isle of Wight with his family, he landed a job in a
local design agency where he learned the industry had changed fast and there was lots of new technical processes and things to learn. With this accumulated knowledge of imaging software, he then moved from graphic design to videogame design.
In 2010 Steve established a permanent studio space at home, and had the opportunity for a fresh start and after a phase of Improvising, experimenting and progressing in new directions his work became translatable from the wall to canvas. He calls his style and methods 'Urban Distress'..
In 2018 he was accepted into the ‘National Acrylic Painters Association’ (NAPA) and won an award in his first NAPA collective exhibition.
2022 saw Steve returning to his creative roots after a period of refocusing on work and family. Re: Emerge was the resulting exhibition of this body of works. The Solo exhibition was at the Quay Arts Centre in Newport Isle of Wight.
'Re:Emerge, an exhibition of over 40 new works by Island artist Steve Miles who has an abstract language of painting combined with a highly expressive and gestural graphic style, that is representational of over three decades spent as a graffiti writer and graphic designer.'
The exhibition was well received and Steve goes from strength to strength with his highly individual style and wonderful colour palettes. Something for every interior.