In the early 1970’s, while attending the University of Northern Colorado, Gino Miles, a native of the western slopes of Colorado, became interested in painting and sculpture, which lead him to Florence, Italy. He helped found Italart, a school for American and German students in the Chianti region outside Florence. He taught design and sculpture classes while making and exhibiting his own pastels and sculpture. He studied at Universita per i Stranieri in Perugia and the Accademia di Belli Art in Florence. He received a Master of Art in sculpture from the University of Northern Colorado in 1979. In the 1970’s and early 1980’s Gino spent several years in Europe studying the history of art and absorbing the rich cultural relationship between sculpture and architecture within the surrounding landscape. He was greatly influenced by the ancient ruins and works of the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks, as well as the works of artists at the turn of the 20th century, including Manzu, Marini, Modigliani, Greco, Wotruba and Moore.
In late 1983, Gino and his wife returned to the United States, making Santa Fe their new home. Gino worked in a bronze foundry, art gallery, and thereafter opened his own business, enlarging and casting bronze sculptures of his own, as well as other sculptors. In the Fall of 2003, having amassed a large body of work, he opened Sculpture 619, a gallery on Canyon Road in the heart of Santa Fe’s art district.
Gino’s work combines in a contemporary context his love and energy, both for the classical figure and objects found in nature. The balance of the piece in relationship to its base or position within its environment is a critical component to the creation of a contemporary statement or tension. Often using only parts of the figures, reminiscent of the fragments of ancient cultures, allows his work to be conceived in a timeless attention to form. His tactile-texture becomes poetry, and his de-accentuation of a story line achieves a harmonious sense of nature and universal truths.
About
In the early 1970’s, while attending the University of Northern Colorado, Gino Miles, a native of the western slopes of Colorado, became interested in painting and sculpture, which lead him to Florence, Italy. He helped found Italart, a school for American and German students in the Chianti region outside Florence. He taught design and sculpture classes while making and exhibiting his own pastels and sculpture. He studied at Universita per i Stranieri in Perugia and the Accademia di Belli Art in Florence. He received a Master of Art in sculpture from the University of Northern Colorado in 1979.
In the 1970’s and early 1980’s Gino spent several years in Europe studying the history of art and absorbing the rich cultural relationship between sculpture and architecture within the surrounding landscape. He was greatly influenced by the ancient ruins and works of the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks, as well as the works of artists at the turn of the 20th century, including Manzu, Marini, Modigliani, Greco, Wotruba and Moore.