Giles Round Shares the Experiences and Emotions Behind his Latest Work

While he now lives and works on the south coast, in St. Leonards-on-Sea, British artist Giles Round is a Londoner at heart. Having previously worked on art projects for London’s iconic underground stations, as well as the South Bank’s Brutalist masterpiece Queen Elizabeth Hall, Round is no stranger to the cultural significance of creating large scale public artworks. Unveiled last week within The Arbour of the new Brent Cross West mainline train station, his latest project Time passes & still I think of you takes the form of a 48-metre-long architectural frieze comprising a sprawling landscape of screen-printed vitreous enamel tiles.

We asked the artist to talk us through his artistic approach, creative process and emotional connection to the artwork, which he describes as “a monument to love”.

The artwork is dedicated to your mother, can you tell us more about your personal connection to the local area?

I was born in Euston and then I grew up in north London throughout the 1980s and 90s. At that point, Brent Cross Shopping Centre was one of the only inner city shopping malls, so we went there a lot — usually taken by my mother, although sometimes my sister. It sits in the memory of most Londoners who grew up in that time as being this place that you went to, or were taken to, and enjoyed. At a later date, my mum worked in John Lewis there, which meant my connection to the area slightly changed. There’s still an expectancy sometimes, especially when I walk through. When I’m using the escalators in John Lewis I still, to this day, almost expect to see my mother. She worked on the jewellery counter for many years. One of the things that I say about the artwork is that it’s an attempt to communicate with the dead.

How did it make you feel when you were asked to create an artwork for the station?

We did a site visit and I was wowed. The entrance of the station, which is called The Arbour, is designed by James Cook of Studio Egret West. I met James and I just thought it was a really incredible thing. The primary purpose of the building is to guide people leaving the station into the new area of Brent Cross Town — to welcome them. James described The Arbour itself as a journey that primarily takes you from A to B, and then back again, so that became quite an inspiration in thinking about the work itself as a journey. There are different moments in the artwork which I almost see as discrete works in themselves.

You’ve previously worked on a number of other public projects. Can you tell us more about that approach?

My attitude is always, when commissioned to do something, is it possible in some ways to use my art commissioning budget, to actively improve the situation? So I’ve continued to apply that I think in most of the public works I’ve done. There’s often this position of trying to mend or heal or improve, and I don’t see that as a form of subject matter, but more like an actual approach to the creation of the work. Something I noticed after I made a curtain for Queen Elizabeth Hall is that it’s the kind of place where people go every day, again and again. I found it quite moving when they put up a screen to show the royal wedding, and people were all watching this cultural moment in front of my curtain. I thought, wow, this is kind of amazing, because essentially, you’re creating the backdrop to everyday life.

See more of Time passes & still I think of you here.