Miles Cole, born 1965, studied Fine Art at Gloucestershire College of Art & Technology and gained a BA(Hons) in Fine Art. In the late 80s he studied at the Chelsea School of Art in London where he gained his MA in Fine Art.
In 2012 I returned to painting after a fifteen year hiatus, during which time I carved out a successful career as an illustrator, regularly working for The Economist, Tatler, The Times and The Wall St Journal.
My work is rooted in the tradition of British and European post-war Modernism, particularly abstract painting. Drawing inspiration from the experience of place - the rugged landscape of the Cornish coast or walking through the city of London with it's random geometry, these are departure points for an intuitive painting process that includes layering with palette knives, scratching back, adding texture with wax or marble dust, sanding down and exploring the role of accident & chance until the initial subject matter is transformed into a new reality - one of pure abstraction.
Music is also a significant factor in my work and a lot of my paintings are titled after jazz tunes. "Point Of Departure" and "Extrapolation" for example, are a reference to the jazz musician improvising around a structure, continuously refining, elaborating and reworking his or her theme.