Giles Hohnen

Giles Hohnen was born in Jamshedpur, India in 1947. As a child, he spent his time between his home in New Guinea and boarding school in Victoria. In 1963, the family moved to Perth where Giles completed his schooling, and in 1966 he enrolled in fine art at Perth Technical College. The course was interrupted in 1968 by two years of National Service. Giles resumed study at the West Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University of Technology) majoring in painting, and completed an Associateship in Fine Art.

In 1971 he was invited to exhibit at Skinner Galleries with Jeremy Kirwan-Ward. This began a commitment to painting, with work in construction and building design coexisting with a constant and evolving practice.

Giles brings a spontaneous and autonomous approach to composition and form. Bold and flat areas of colour work together as layers that build contrast and tension in the work. He immerses the viewer in materiality, formal aesthetics and structure through his paintings, often using building materials such as composite board as the canvas.

His work is represented in a number of national and private collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.