About The Artist: Emilio Gil

The collages that grace the cover and content of this issue of the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural studies are by Emilio Gil, Artistic Director of Tau Diseño one of one of Spain’s pioneering and most distinguished graphic design firms. They form part of a collection of 51 works titled “Mapas que no lo son” which was first on display in the Quintanar Palace Cultural Center in Segovia Spain in May 2013. “Mapas” opens up a new direction in the career of this seasoned design professional. It challenges the relationships between art and design in a way that fuses the disciplines and results in exciting new cultural creations based on a fascinating compilation of colors, techniques, textures and artistic conceptions any of which use elements of cartography in their construction. You can see an interview with Emilio Gil on the collection here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUm3h9quVXo

Emilio Gil founded Tau Diseño in 1980. Since then Tau Diseño has produced work for a number of important private and public sector clients including UNICEF, El País Aguilar, Alfaguara, and Santillana publishing groups, Aldeasa, SGAE, Indra, Banco NatWest, Gesinar, Logista Osborne, Tabacalera, The City of Madrid, The Spanish Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the World Bank Group and the Reina Sofía Museum and centennial celebrations of Felipe II y Carlos V, Goya 96 among many others them.

Mr. Gil’s work has appeared in a number of studies and anthologies of design work and important national and international exhibitions and has garnered numerous Spanish awards for design as well as international honors from the New York Type Directors Club and the Donside Prize in Great Britain. Emilio Gil has lectured widely around the world and has offered a number of courses on such suggestive topics as Design or Propaganda? The Administrative Image of the State, Design in ‘Three Times’ From Guttenberg to Virtual Design, and Art=Design=Art? His work has also won the Premio a la Calidad en el Sistema Nacional de Salud in 2009 from Spain’s Ministry of Health for the inclusive signage system that TAU designed for the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves.

Mr. Gil, who has been President of the Spanish Association of Design Professionals (AEPD) since 2009, has curated important exhibitions including the groundbreaking “Signo del Siglo, 100 años de Diseño Gráfico Español,” at Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid; “¿Dissenyes o diseñas?” [on Spanish and Catalan design], at the de la Generalitat de Catalunya’s Blanquerana Cultural Center in Madrid, which later traveled to Barcelona and Berlin; “Cámera Panorámica: 120^o Aniversario de la Cámera de Comercio e Industria de Madrid,” at the Centro de exposiciones El Aguila in Madrid; “24x365, Diseño Gráfico para la Comunicación Pública,” at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid; “FotoCAM.,” at Correos in Madrid; and “Grafistas, Graphic Design in Spain 1939-1975,” which was held at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid. He also was the editorial coordinator of the catalogues these exhibitions.

Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design: Constructing a Profession—Mr. Gil’s groundbreaking study of the 20th century foundations of Spain’s graphic design industry—has been published in both English and Spanish to great critical acclaim. He is currently working on a second volume of his book.

Emilio Gil has also lectured and taught widely about graphic design in Spain and around the world, has served on the juries for important design prizes and has been a technical advisor on design issues to a number of private and public sector entities.