Daniel Giles is an artist, educator, and writer based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His artistic practice explores modes of representation, in particular how identity becomes embedded within visual cultures, and often creates connections with historical figures, events, and ideas  through methods of appropriation and abstraction. In his practice, creative interventions into cultural archives create critical space from which to reveal hidden narratives and gain new knowledge and modes of relation. Giles’ work takes shape through studio practice as well as collaborative, research-based, and performative approaches resulting in artworks, publications, and forms of pedagogy. Each project departs from a different subject, drawing on a wide range of interests and assuming different aesthetic and material forms. Recent works use the methods and materials of drawing to investigate how racialization and whiteness are ingrained within art. Giles is a recent grantee of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and has attended artist residencies including Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and MFA from Northwestern University. His work has been exhibited, performed, and screened at venues including The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; El Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA; and Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA. Giles is currently Course Director and Associate Professor at the Master Fine Art at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam.

Using Format