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PictoGraffik // Typographic Abstraction

An artistic approach that strips letters of clear legibility, emphasizing their shapes and structures to explore their pictorial qualities and arrive at a playful abstraction. The process mirrors the foundations of graffiti writing, yet it introduces a freer, more whimsical movement—one that drifts away from recognizable lettering and toward increasingly abstract forms.

This mural by artist Steve Miles comprises two stages - stage one is a hand-cut wall stencil from a digital projection, and stage two is flat-based painting overworked with freehand aerosol drawing. See our image gallery below for behind-the-scenes photos of Steve working on this piece.

Meet the Artist

Steve Miles 

Originally from Warley in the West Midlands, I moved to the Isle of Wight in 1994 and worked as a Graphic Designer for various Island companies, and currently work for Stainless Games Ltd. as a Graphic Designer and Artist on videogames.

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 was not much 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 in to 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 was 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 in 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 graphic design to videogame design, and worked for many years in this cutting edge creative industry.

All of 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.

In 2010, I was able to establish a permanent studio space at home, 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, I have spent the last four years working towards my current way of expressing my creative thoughts, which I have come to call “UrbanDistress”.