Steve Miles NAPA

Award Winning Artist & National Acrylic Painters' Association Member (NAPA)

 Originally from Warley in the West Midlands, in 1994 I moved to the Isle of Wight at the age of 21 and began working as a Graphic Designer for various Island companies, currently I work for Stainless Games.

 I began painting graffiti in the early 1980s under the tag Toxic363. 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’. My next-door neighbour had an American cousin who came to visit one summer. He was a great break-dancer and brought with him a magazine about Hip Hop that featured the now legendary Rock Steady Crew. I wasn’t very good at the ‘Breaking’ but I was intrigued by the Graffiti section of the article that featured the Bronx ‘writer’ Brim (who later visited the UK and painted and exhibited quite regularly here). I was really into drawing, so I started to get into the Graff, 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 have been in various crews over the years, but the one I have stuck with is TIC (The Imperial Creations). I still catch up with some of the members from time to time.

 After leaving school in 1989, I worked for various companies in the print industry and learned the traditional industry processes at the time - pasting up artwork, making colour separations, working out type scales, leading and line lengths to input into the typesetting machine, etc. - all of which now sound like processes from ancient history, following the advent of the digital print revolution that took place not very many years later. It was a largely technical industry, which only marginally tallied with my real love - painting graffiti and making art.

 So, I decided to take my 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.

 In 1994, I moved to Freshwater on the Isle of Wight with my wife Rachael and landed myself a job with a local design agency where I quickly learned the industry had changed fast, and that software knowledge was now the staple for any new designer in the 90s. I was introduced to the world of Illustrator, Photoshop et al, and how they had revolutionised the design business. Later, armed with my accumulated knowledge of imaging software, I moved from the world of print and web design to videogame design, and now work in this cutting-edge creative industry.

 All this previous experience helped to direct my own, personal creative thoughts, which I also felt strongly that I needed to continue to express when time and space allowed.

 Around 2010, I was able to establish a permanent studio space, and had the opportunity for a fresh start on pursuing my own creative impulses. I proceeded to experiment with different styles and approaches to my painting. Improvising, experimenting, and progressing my work from the wall to canvas