Exhibition
November 23, 2019 – February 15, 2020

[Deutscher Text nachstehend]

Phil Sims’ abstract paintings focus on color and its elementary material properties. Seemingly monochrome, Sims’ painting’s luminescence derives from his careful layering of numerous layers of oil paint at a different levels of opacity in a range of tones.

A member of the international Radical Painting group in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sims shared a concern for the possibilities of abstract painting after the New York School and minimal art with fellow group members Marcia Hafif and Olivier Mosset, among others. At a time when there was a disinterest, or even disdain, for painting these painters rigorously and deeply investigated the “basic question of what painting is” (Marcia Hafif, 1978). Within the recent reexamination of painting of the late 20th century, the Radical Painting movement and monochromatic, conceptual painting such as that of Phil Sims has recently regained renewed interest, contributing to the recognition of its art historical significance.

Monochromaticity has defined Sims’ œuvre of painting. Working the surface of his paintings in a laborious manner, their subtle texture and precise painterly gesture is only revealed to the viewer upon closer proximity. Using different painting media such as oil, acryclic, and watercolor, Sims has also experimented with various admixtures and unconventional substances such as sand creating a field of complex vibrancy and transcendent beauty.

Sim’s works are included in major institutions and museums, including the Panza Collection (Italy), the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany), Malmö Konsthall (Sweden), Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

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In den abstrakten Gemälden von Phil Sims stehen die Farbe und ihre elementaren Eigenschaften im Mittelpunkt. Die scheinbar monochrome Lumineszenz von Sims’ Gemälden beruht auf der sorgfältigen Überlagerung zahlreicher Schichten Ölfarbe mit unterschiedlichen Opazitäten und in verschiedenen Farbtönen.

Als Mitglied der internationalen “Radical Painting Group” in den späten 1970er- und frühen 1980er-Jahren teilte Sims unter anderem mit den Gruppenmitgliedern Marcia Hafif und Olivier Mosset ein Interesse für die Möglichkeiten der abstrakten Malerei nach der “New York School” sowie der Minimal Art. Zu einer Zeit, in der es ein Desinteresse an Malerei gab, untersuchten diese Maler präzise und gründlich die “Grundfrage, was Malerei ist” (Marcia Hafif, 1978). Im Rahmen der Wiederentdeckung und Anerkennung ihrer kunsthistorischen Bedeutung der Malerei des späten 20. Jahrhunderts hat die “Radical Painting”-Bewegung und die monochromatische, konzeptuelle Malerei wie die von Phil Sims in jüngster Zeit wieder an Bedeutung gewonnen.

Monochromität bestimmt Sims’ Oeuvre. Das aufwändige Bearbeiten der Oberfläche seiner Bilder, ihre subtile Textur und präzise malerische Geste werden dem Betrachter erst aus nächster Nähe offenbart. Sims experimentierte mit verschiedenen Malmitteln wie Öl, Acryl und Aquarell sowie mit verschiedenen Beimischungen und unkonventionellen Substanzen wie Sand, wodurch eine lebendige und transzendente Ästhetik entstand.

Sims’ Werke sind in bedeutenden Institutionen und Museen vertreten, darunter die Panza-Sammlung (Italien), das Wadsworth Atheneum, das Kunstmuseum Bonn, Malmö Konsthall (Schweden), das Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts und die Albright-Knox Art Gallery (USA).

Phil Sims

Born 1940 in Richmond, United States
Lives and works in New York, Pennsylvania and Santa Fe, United States

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• 2018

  Color-Part One, Haus der Kunst, Solothurn, Switzerland

• 2012

  New navigators, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany

• 2009

  Selected Works, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany

• 2008

  Color in my Mind, Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, Germany
  Neuererberbungen zur monochromen Malerei, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany

• 2006

  Westfällisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, Germany

• 2005

  Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

• 2004

  Paintings and Tea Bowls from 2004, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
  fire / light / color / matter, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, United States

• 2003

  fire / light / color / matter, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, United States
  Summer Color, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, United States

• 2002

  The Cologne Painting (Pietá Cycle),Kunstraum Fuhrwerkswaage, Cologne, Germany
  The Presence of Color, Baukunst Galerie, Cologne, Germany
  The Stable Paintings, Vila di Buimo, Varese, Italy

• 2001

  Red Sprekturm, Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Neuenhaus, Germany
  Neue Bilder, Galerie Krohn, Badenweiler, Germany
  Paintings, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, United States

• 2000

  Old and new Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
  Bonn Paintings, Kunst Museum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  Recent Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, United States

• 1999

  Paintings, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, United States

• 1998

  Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, United States

• 1997

  Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany

• 1996

  Marienbad Paintings, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  Paintings, Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium
  The Stable Paintings, Villa di Buimo, 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, United States

• 1994

  Recent Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, United States

• 1993

  Umbrian Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany
  Painting: Into Blue, Artothek, Cologne, Germany
  Umbrian Paintings, Quaderni Perugini Di Musica Contemporanea, Pieve Caina, Italy

• 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, Räume von Prima Kunst, Kiel, Germany
  Paintings, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany

• 1990

  (October), Julian Pretto Gallery, New York, United States
  (April), Julian Pretto Gallery, New York, United States

• 1988

  Now Color, Genovese Gallery, Boston, United States

• 1986

  Die Gegenwart der Farbe, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
  Drawings, Kingsborough College Art Gallery at City University of New York, New York, United States
  New Paintings, Malmö Kunsthalle, Malmö, Sweden
  Paintings, 1979-1985, Queens Museum, New York, United States

• 1984

  Oscarsson Hood Gallery, New York, United States
  Galerie Nemo, Eckernförde, Germany
  Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany

• 1983

  Oscarsson Hood Gallery, New York, United States
  Bluxome Gallery, San Francisco, United States
  Raum für Malerei, Cologne, Germany

• 1982

  Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany
  Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, Sweden

• 1980

  Shirley Cerf Gallery, San Francisco, United States

• 1979

  Casat Gallery, La Jolla, United States

• 1977

  Casat Gallery, La Jolla, United States

• 1975

  Wenger-Casat Gallery, La Jolla, United States

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2011

  Wasser | Farbe – Colour | Water, Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

• 2010

  Wasser | Farbe – Colour | Water, Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland

• 2005

  The Natalie and Irving Forman Collection, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, United States

• 2004

  Arbeiten aus der Sammlung Rosskopf, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany
  Wege zur Abstraktion III, Kunstverein Schloss Plön, Plön, Germany
  Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus, Schloss Plüschow, Germany

• 2001

  La percezione dello spazio, Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Verona, Italy
  Radical Painting: Farbe beim Wort genommen,Villa Aichele, Lörrach, Germany
  Monochrome/Monochrome?, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York, United States

• 2000

  Grau ist nicht Grau, Galerie Gisele Linder, Basel, Switzerland
  Die Farbe hat mich, Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany
  Painting, Esso Gallery, New York, United States

• 1999

  The Tao of Painting: Principles in Monochrome, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, United States
  Yellow: The First Color, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, United States
  Early Radical Painters, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, United States
  Color-Based Painting, High Modernism, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, United States
  Color-Based Painting, The Root Of The Actual, Jan Maiden Fine Art, Columbus, United States

• 1998

  The Panza di Biumo Collection, Artists of the Eighties and Nineties, Museum of the Ducal Place, Gubbio, Italy
  Color Painting, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, United States

• 1997

  Collection Panza di Biumo, 1980-1990, Llonear, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

• 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, United States

• 1994

  Esposizione Scelsi, Palazzo dei Priori, Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea, Perugia, Italy
  Ars Nova Galleri, Göteborg, Sweden

• 1991

  Three Americans, Galerie Hans Hake, Wiesbaden, Germany

• 1990

  Genovese Gallery, Boston, United States

• 1988

  La Couleur Seule, l’Experience du Monochrome, Musee D’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
  Black in the Light, Genovese Graphics, Boston, United States

• 1987

  Rigor, John Good Gallery, New York
  10 Jahre Kunst, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich, Germany

• 1986

  Spirit Tracks, Big Abstract Drawings, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, United States

• 1984

  Radical Painting, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, United States
  Beauties & Beasts, Pratt Institute Gallery, New York, United States
  New Abstraction, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, United States

• 1983

  New Work, Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York, United States
  Paint into Image, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, United States
  New Abstraction, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, United States
  Color Painting, Three New York Painters, Galerie Rupert Walser/Druckwerk, Munich, Germany
  Von der Ungleichheit des Ähnlichen in der Kunst, Städtische Galerie, Lüdenscheid, Germany
  Von der Ungleichheit des Ähnlichen in der Kunst, Städtisches Museum, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
  Von der Ungleichheit des Ähnlichen in der Kunst, Kunstverein Unna, Unna, Germany
  New York | Linköping, Ostergotlands Lansmuseum, Linköping, Sweden
  Installations, Directions on Broadway, New York, United States

• 1982

  Unpunctuated, Grommet Gallery, New York, United States
  Small Format, Bluxome Gallery, San Francisco, United States
  Peintres Americains, Galerie Numaga, Auvernier, Switzerland
  Color: Four Painters, Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York
  Color: Four Painters, Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, Sweden

• 1981

  Painting: Seven New York Painters, Sarah Lawrence College Gallery, Bronxville, United States
  Ung Amerikansk Kunst Pa Toppen, Galerie Arnesen, Kopenhagen, Denmark

• 1980

  Color Painting, Galerie Engstrom, Stockholm, Sweden
  Color Painting, Shirley Cerf Gallery, San Francisco, United States

• 1979

  Fundamental Color, Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, Sweden

• 1978

  Black & White on Paper, Nobe Gallery, New York, United States

Public Collections

The Panza Collection, Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza, Varese, Italy
Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum Köln, Cologne, Germany
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, United States
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Hartford, United States
Musée D’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, United States
Kunsthalle Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Malmö Kunsthall, Malmö, Sweden
Scripps Institute, La Jolla, United States

Selected Bibliography

• 2009

  Phil Sims: Color in my Mind, Düsseldorf 2009, Brigitta Buhlmann, Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, Brigitte Tietzel, Annette Reich

• 2006

  Kunstforum International, February-April, 2006, “Phil Sims ‘Emotion of Color’”, Martin Blättner

• 2005

  Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst, Ausgabe 71, Munich 2005, “Phil Sims. Die sinnliche Intelligenz der Farbe“, Herbert Köhler
  San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 2005, “Phil Sims; monochrome paintings, tea bowls,” Kenneth Baker

• 2004

  Art News, January 2004, “Phil Sims,” Dottie Indyke

• 2001

  San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 2001, “Phil Sims at Gross,” David Bonetti

• 2000

  Phil Sims: Paintings, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, United States, Catalog 2000, John Yau
  Artnews Summer, 2000, “Up at the Villa,” Rachel Donadio
  Basler Zeitung, June 28, 2000, “Grau is nicht Grau,” Marion Benz

• 1999

  Santa Fe New Mexican, October 1, 1999, “New Mexico Light Goes beyond Surface,” Joe Quattro
  San Francisco Examiner, May 7, 1999, “Abstraction’s Remarkable Return,” David Bonetti
  Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung April 20, 1999, “Im Studio herrscht jetzt die Monochromie,” Georg Imdahl

• 1998

  The New York Times, April 24, 1998, “Phil Sims,” Ken Johnson

• 1996

  Art in America, May 1996, “Phil Sims at the Crosby street Project,” Lilly Wei

• 1995

  The New York Times, July 21, 1995, “Color, Sign, System, Sensibility,” Pepe Karmel

• 1994

  Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea “Nuove Prospettive per L’Osservazione Tra Immagine e Musica,” Perugia, Italia, Catalogo 1994, Prof. Michael Böckemuhl

• 1992

  Kunstforum International, Bd. 118 1992, “Two Black Paintings,” Michael Hübl

• 1988

  La Couleur Seule L’Expérience du Monochrome, Musée St. Pieree, Lyon, France, Catalog, 1988, Thierry Raspail

• 1986

  Phil Sims, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden, Catalog 1986, Stephen Westfall
  Die Gegenwart der Farbe, Kunstalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany, Catalog 1986, Erich Franz

• 1984

  Phil Sims, Galerie Nemo, Eckernförde, Germany, Catalog 1984, Erich Franz
  Radical Painting, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Catalog,1984, Lily Wei

• 1982

  Flash Art, February 1982, “Color: Four Painters,” Michele Meyers
  Arts Magazine, March 1982, “Monochrome Met,” Ann Schoenfeld

• 1981

  Art in America, April 1981, “Getting on with Painting,” Marcia Hafif

• 1980

  Color Painting, Cerf Gallery, San Francisco, California, Catalog 1980, Phil Sims

• 1979

  Flash Art No. 92-93, October- November 1979, “Monochrome in New York: Dialogue between Seven Artists”