Phil SIMS
(Richmond, 1940)
Phil Sims is born in 1940 in Richmond, California.
Before turning to painting, Sims was a potter and a ceramic artist.
In the mid- 1960s he attends the San Francisco Art Institute, and he is now considered a master in the use of color as an expressive medium.
At the beginning of his artistic education, he looks at the use of color by the Abstract Expressionism artists; moreover, he has always been fascinated by the more traditional European art (from Piero della Francesca to Titian and Rubens).
His early career develops as part of the artistic group Radical Painters (Marcia Hafif, Joseph Marioni, Olivier Mosset and Jerry Zeniuk). However, in 1984, after the exhibition Radical Painting, held at Williams College Museum of Art in Massachusetts organised by Thomas Krens, the group splits up and each artist decides to follow a more personal artistic path.
Color has always been central to Sims' work, to the point that it can be seen as the image itself.
He arrives to the final color by applaying a series of layers, usually between forty and sixty, covering the complete surface of the canvas each times with short horizontal and vertical marks, the plus minus structure.
An advantage of Sims' medium mixture is that it allows the underlying layers to bring forth a particular color light.
Thanks to his unique sensitivity to color and his accurate technique, the final outcome is stunning: in the end, color emerges from the depths of all the layers, seeping through to the surface.
Nowadays, Sims lives and works in the United States, but he extensively exhibits in Europe.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Solo! Phil Sims, Kunstraum Alexander Burkle, Freiburg, Germany
2010
Phil Sims Color Baukunst Galerie, Köln, Germany
2009
Phil Sims Tea Bowls and Watercolors Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe,
New Mexico
Phil Sims selected works Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
2008
Phil Sims Color in my Mind Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern,
Germany
Phil Sims Neuerwerbungen zur monochromen Malerei, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany Phil Sims The Interplay of Color, Baukunst Galerie, Köln, Germany
fire // light // color // matter paintings and ceramics from 2008
Dinter Fine Art, New York, New York
2007
Paintings, Galerie Carmen Weber, Zug, Switzerland
2006
Emotion of Color Westfälisches Landmuseum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte
Munster, Germany
2005
Emotion of Color Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
The Complexity of Color, Baukunst Galerie, Köln, Germany
Paintings and Tea Bowls from 2004, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany fire / light / color / matter (paintings and tea bowls from 2004), Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, California
2003
fire / light / color / matter (paintings and tea bowls from 2003) Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2002
The Cologne Painting (Pietá Cycle), Kunstraum Fuhrwerkswaage, Köln, Germany
The Presence of Color, Baukunst Galerie, Köln, Germany
The Stable Paintings, Villa di Biumo, Varese, Italy
2001
Red Spectrum Paintings, Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Neuenhaus, Germany
Paintings, Galerie Krohn, Badenweiler, Germany
Paintings, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, California
2000
Paintings, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, New York
1999
Paintings, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1998
Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, New York
1997
Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
1996
Marienbad Paintings, Freiburg, Germany
Paintings, Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium
The Stable Paintings, Villa di Biumo, Varese, Italy
1995
Paintings, Ars Nova Galleri, Göteborg, Sweden
Paintings, Galerie Dr. Luise Krohn, Badenweiler, Germany
The Stable Paintings, Crosby Street/Stark Gallery, New York, New York
1994
Recent Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, New York
1993
Umbrian Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
1992
Paintings and Drawings, Galerie Dr. Luise Krohn, Badenweiler, Germany
Two Black Paintings, Galerie Kunstraum Kassel, Kassel, Germany 1991 Paintings, Galerie Conrads, Neuss, Germany
Malerei Pur, Räumen von Prima Kunst, Kiel, Germany
Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
1990
(October), Julian Pretto Gallery, New York, New York
Julian Pretto Gallery, New York, New York
1988
Now Color, Genovese Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1986
Die Gegenwart der Farbe, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
Drawings, Kingsborough College Art Gallery, City University of New York
New Paintings, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden
Paintings, 1979-1985, Queens Museum, New York, New York
1984
Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York, New York Galerie Nemo, Eckernförde, Germany
Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany
1983
Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York, New York
Bluxome Gallery, San Francisco, California
l982
Raum für Malerei, Köln, Germany
Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany
Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, Sweden
1980
Shirley Cerf Gallery, San Francisco, California
1979
Casat Gallery, La Jolla, California
1977
Casat Gallery, La Jolla, California
1975
Wenger-Casat Gallery, La Jolla, California
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
Accrochage, Bartha Contemporary, London
2017
COLOR as attitude. Ruth Ann Fredenthal, Winston Roeth, Phil Sims, Osart Gallery, Milano, Italy
Phil Sims. Color - Part One, Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn, Svizzera
2016
La finestra sul cortile, GAM. Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milano, Italy
Monochrome. Works by Fratteggiani Bianchi, Bonalumi, Fontana, Knoebel, Sims, Tollens, Voskuil and others, Sebastian Fath Contemporary, Mannheim,Germany
2015
La percezione del futuro, La collezione Panza a Parigi, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria. Perugia, Italy
2014
The Cosmic Spectrum – Monochromes and Beyond 12 Contemporary Art, Montoro, Roma, Italy
2013
PAINT / IMAGE / BILD / FARBE, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, Germany
INDIAN TANTRIC & WESTERN CONTEMPORARY, Bartha Contemporary, London
PAINT / IMAGE / BILD / FARBE, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, Germany
2011
Red, White and Black, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Malerei #011 – Ungegenständlich Heute!, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany
2010
Medium Paper, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany
Wasser / Farbe Color / Water, Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland
2009
Sammlung XXL, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany 2008 Man Leaving Earth Kolumba (Art Museum of the Archbishop of Cologne) year long exhibition, The Cologne Painting (Pietá Cycle) exhibited in Room 21, Tea Bowls 2007/2008, exhibited in Room 11
2007
Panza Collection, An Experience of Color and Light, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
3 New York Painters, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
All from America (Part one), Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany
Death and Love in Modern Times, Dinter Fine Art, New York, New York
Painting Painting, Modern Gallery- Vass László Collection, Veszprém, Hungary
2005
The Natalie and Irving Forman Collection, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
2004
Arbeiten aus der Sammlung Rosskopf, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany Wege zur Abstraktion lll, Kunstverein Schloss Plön, Plön, Germany
2001
La percezione dello spazio, Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Piazza Bra, Verona Italy
Radical Painting—Farbe beim Wort genommen, Villa Aichele, Städtische Galerie, Lörrach, Germany
Monochrome/Monochrome?, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York, New York
2000
Grau is nicht Grau, Galerie Gisele Linder, Basel, Switzerland
More American Artists, Ausstellungsraum Harry Zellweger, Basel Switzerland
Die Farbe hat mich, Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum Hagen, Germany
Painting, Esso Gallery, New York, New York
1999
The Tao of Painting: Principles in Monochrome, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas
Yellow: The First Color, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California
Early Radical Painters, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico Color-Based Painting: High Modernism, Patricia Sweetow Gallery,
San Francisco, California
Color-Based Painting: The Root of the Actual, Jan Maiden Fine Art, Columbus, Ohio
1998
The Panza di Biumo Collection: Artists of the Eighties and Nineties, The Museum of the Ducal Palace, Gubbio, Italy (Five paintings created for a specific room. Paintings on view through 2003.)
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Galerie Gisele Linder, Basel, Switzerland
Color Painting, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1997
Collection Panza di Biumo, 1980-1990, Llonear, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Galerie Gisele Linder, Basel, Switzerland
1996
N’oublions Pas le Blanc, Galerie Gisele Linder, Basel, Switzerland
Pittura Contemporanea in Galleria, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia, Italy
La Collezione Panza di Biumo-artisti degli anni ‘80 e ‘90, Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Trento, Italy
1995
Color, Sign, System, Sensibility, Stark Gallery, New York, New York
1994
Esposizione Scelsi, Palazzo dei Priori, Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea, Perugia, Italia
Ars Nova Galleri, Göteborg, Sweden
1992
Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany
1991
Three Americans, Galerie Hans Hake, Wiesbaden, Germany
1990
Genovese Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1988
La Couleur Seule: L'Experience du Monochrome, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
Black in the Light, Genovese Graphics, Boston, Massachusetts
1987
Rigor, John Good Gallery, New York, New York
10 Jahre Kunst, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
1986
Spirit Tracks: Big Abstract Drawings, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York
1984
Radical Painting, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Beauties & Beasts, Pratt Institute Gallery, New York, New York
Von der Ungleichheit des Ahnlichen in der Kunst, Studio F, Ulm, Germany New Abstraction, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1983
New Work, Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York, New York
Paint into Image, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, New York
New Abstraction, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New York
Bilder, (Paintings of Seven Painters), Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany
Color Painting: Three New York Painters, Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany
Von der Ungleichheit des Ahnlichen in der Kunst, Städtische Galerie, Lüdenscheid, Germany
Städtische Museum, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Kunstvere in Unna, Germany
New York I Linköping, Östergötlands Lansmuseum, Linköping, Sweden Installations, Directions on Broadway, New York, New York
1982
Unpunctuated, Grommet Gallery, New York, New York
Small Format, Bluxome Gallery, San Francisco, California
Peintres Americains, Galerie Numaga, Auvernier, Switzerland Color: Four Painters, Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York, New York Color: Four Painters, Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, Sweden
1981
Painting: Seven New York Painters, Sarah Lawrence College Gallery, Bronxville, New York
Ung Amerikansk Kunst Pa Toppen, Galerie Arnesen, Kopenhagen
1980
Color Painting, Galerie Engstrom, Stockholm, Sweden
Color Painting, Shirley Cerf Gallery, San Francisco, California
1979
Fundamental Color, Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, Sweden
1978
Black & White on Paper, Nobe Gallery, New York, New York