CONTOURS IN
METAL SCULPTURES BY GINO MILES ANN NORTON SCULPTURE GARDENS JANUARY
10
-
MAY
12,
2019
A MASTER OF METAL Shelter Bronze 16'2" x 8'4" x 8'4"
INSPIRED BY NATURE
Zia Marine-grade stainless steel on rusted steel base 17'2" x 6'6" turning radius
WITH MONUMENTAL VISION Toro Marine-grade stainless steel on rusted steel base 88" x 92" turning radius 48" x 48" x 16" base Sold
INTRODUCTION Monumental scale has dominated Gino Miles’ art practice for over four decades. His early figurative sculpture, The Grape Crusher, commissioned as a landmark for Napa Valley stands 16 feet tall on top of a 10-foot tall pedestal. At the time of its creation, it was the largest work to be cast in bronze in the United States. The concrete figures in his commission, The Seven Dwarves, for Disney’s Burbank headquarters each measure a whopping 19.5 feet tall. Recent works such as Zia and Shelter take abstraction to gigantic proportions at 17 feet high and 16 feet long respectively. For Miles, going big is a way a life. That he creates his large-scale works by hand, in the studio, makes the impact of his work that much more impressive. Miles and his team of assistants cut, weld, grind, sand, and polish each piece of metal by hand. Miles can often feel the vibration of the grinder coursing through his arms and hands long after he’s put the tool away. This directness between the artist and the work itself remains unusual considering its scale. Outsourcing fabrication for large-scale work remains a common practice among artists. Yet Miles continues to create by hand, in his studio, to bring his stand-alone works to fruition despite the inordinate amount of time, patience, and skill required to create each piece. Miles continues to push the limits of engineering, illusion, and contradiction through his work. His curvilinear forms appear weightless, on the verge of movement - floating, rolling, spinning - despite their heavy materials. The kinetic element adds another dimension of contradiction to the work with the sheer ease it takes to put a piece - even a large-scale one - into motion. The sculptures perpetually respond to each viewer and each environment: the changing landscape, the time of day, the season. While rooted in industrial engineering and elegant minimalism, Miles’ signature work found its inspiration in nature: the twisted morning glory vines growing outside his Santa Fe gallery that knotted themselves “as if tying a shoelace.” He says, “I am fascinated by nature’s ability to weave itself so exquisitely into a knot - a historic symbol of unity and connection.” He goes on to say, “All life is a form that, in essence, moves in concentric circles.” The works on view at Ann Norton Sculpture Garden represent a selection of Miles’ iconic forms made in the last decade along with several new works that highlight Miles’ “unquenchable thirst for creating sculpture” and his desire to challenge boundaries and preconceptions of both material and form.
AN ARTIST'S LIFE
Born and raised in Colorado on a tiny farm in a remote town, sculptor Gino Miles lived in Italy for ten years and now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Miles holds a BA and MA from the University of Northern Colorado and studied at Italy’s Universita per i stranieri and Accademia di Bella Arti. Miles creates both monumental and small-scale works cut and welded by hand in stainless steel and bronze. Each work is a stand-alone piece, he rarely works in editions. His linear, elegant, and abstract forms create a visual contradiction to the sculptures’ materials. Many of his works - even monumental ones - are kinetic and can be turned, rotated, or spun to allow viewer interaction and multiple perspectives. The smooth, polished surfaces of the work call for an inordinate amount of time. Miles said one 60inch high sculpture “took 400 sheets of sandpaper of different grades to make smooth.” Miles explores a deep, timeless aesthetic connection to the primal spirit of humanity. In minimalistic yet often monumental sculptures, he interweaves references to science and natural phenomena with the passage of time. Exploring the relationship between organic and inorganic materials led Miles to a strong conceptual balance of how things grow, bond together, and responds to its environment. While he is known for his knot pieces, he also creates abstract works that reference the dots and dashes of Morse code. His work focuses on elegant minimalism and cleanliness of line and shape, creating a timeless aesthetic. His art also draws from studies of ancient cultures in Italy and Greece, including columns that symbolize humanity’s passage through time. His choice of materials reflects, absorbs, or blends with the surroundings and creates a tension between timelessness and the present moment. The changing environment, time of day, and each viewer combine to create an entirely new viewing experience; the sculpture forever responds to its current reality. Miles’ large-scale works are prominently featured in many permanent and private collections throughout the United States, Europe, and South America including Evansville Museum, Polk Museum of Art, Disney Corporate Headquarters, the California cities of Cerritos and Napa, University of Colorado - Boulder, Eastern New Mexico University, and Western Kentucky University, among others.
Moonlight Stainless steel with granite base 106" x 46" turning radius 17" x 28" x 28" base
High Desert Twist Bronze on steel base 108" x 53" x 26" 30" x 30" x 30" base
Tumbled Bronze on rusted steel base 96" x 98" turning radius 16" x 60" x 60" base
Travels to Hania Bronze 10'5" x 36" turning radius 36" x 36" x 12" base
Splendor Stainless steel with granite base 90" x 45" turning radius 17" x 18" x 18" base
Aja Stainless steel with granite base 100" x 28" turning radius
Celestial Bronze with granite base 62" x 84" turning radius 18" x 18" x 18" base
Soaring Bronze with granite base 74" x 28" turning radius 18" x 18" x 18" base
Morning Sun Bronze on granite base 35" x 34" turning radius
Grace Bronze on granite 38" x 38"
Rejoice Bronze with rusted steel base 30" x 26" turning radius
ANN NORTON SCULPTURE GARDENS The historic Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, Inc., is a recognized 501(c)(3) organization, established in 1977 by Ann Weaver Norton (1905-1982) to preserve the historically registered house and surrounding gardens in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the artist lived from 1948 until 1982. The rare palm and sculpture gardens, exhibition galleries and artist’s studio offer visitors a unique opportunity to experience the sculptor’s holistic vision in its intended setting.
LONG-SHARP GALLERY Long-Sharp Gallery, a fine art gallery in downtown Indianapolis, caters to fine art collectors new and experienced. As a division of Modern Masters Fine Art, the gallery's roots rest in works by important post-war and contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Robert Indiana. The Gallery expanded to include contemporary art in 2008 by adding Russell Young to its roster. Since then, sculpture has become an important part of the gallery's contemporary focus with the addition of artists including Gino Miles, Thalen & Thalen, and Dale Enochs. Today, the gallery roster lists top Indiana based artists including abstract painter Amy Kirchner. The gallery is a member of IDADA and its exhibits are often a part of the first Friday celebrations in Downtown Indianapolis. The Gallery, oftselected as Indianapolis' best gallery, is located within the physical confines of Conrad Indianapolis. In 2016, Long-Sharp Gallery's New York Project Space opened its doors in Midtown Manhattan. The Project Space's active fine art exhibitions schedule keeps pace with that at the Indianapolis fine art gallery. Long-Sharp Gallery has been selected as one of the top galleries worldwide. It is honored to exhibit at important fine art fairs worldwide including Masterpiece London and Art Miami.
TANSEY CONTEMPORARY Tansey Contemporary exhibits unique, high quality works across a variety of media including contemporary glass, ceramics, fiber, sculpture and mixed media. Our program is focused at the intersection between fine craft, contemporary art, and design. From a curatorial perspective, we place equal emphasis on the “how” and the “why" - taking into consideration both process and context. While purpose and meaning is fundamental to the value of art to humanity, quality in execution, we believe, is fundamental to the value of craft within the world of the visual arts. For this reason we exclusively exhibit works by artists who display a level of mastery in their chosen medium.