British painter, sculptor and commercial designer. He studied at St Martin's School of Art (1949-52) and at the Royal College of Art (1952-55) in London, with fellow students Peter Blake and Richard Smith. His initial style was conventional and very realistic, concentrating on contemporary, everyday themes and inspired by trips to Italy and Spain. After having seen Abstract Expressionist paintings at an American art exhibition organised at the Tate Gallery in London in 1956, Tilson began working in an abstract style. At the beginning of the 60s, he immediately responded to the emergence of Pop Art, adapting his formal language to the creation of objects which were reminiscent, in their construction, to children's toys. His formal and iconographic concerns were particularly evident in his wooden constructions based on labyrinths and ziggurats. In 1972, he partially gave up the use of technology that had characterised his work in the 60s, to return to traditional wooden handicraft. In his paintings and prints of the 80s, Tilson used inscriptions and motifs taken from pre-classical mythology and in his more recent work he has shown his preference for a vast range of more traditional techniques such as engraving, aquatint and xylography.
