Phil Sims

Background

Phil Sims was born in 1940 in Richmond, California, United States.

Education

During 1964 – 1965 Phil Sims studied Art at San Francisco Art Institute.

Career

At the start of his career, Sims was a potter and a ceramic artist. In the mid-1960s he was considered a master in the use of color as an expressive medium. At the beginning of his artistic career, he looked 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. In 1976 the artist moved to New York and Worked in Santa Fé, New Mexico, for a year.

His early career developed as part of the artistic group Radical Painters, including 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 organized by Thomas Krens, the group split up and each artist decided to follow a more personal artistic path.

Color has always been central to Sims' work, to the point that it could be seen as the image itself. He arrived to the final color by applying a series of layers, usually between forty and sixty, covering the complete surface of the canvas each time 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 Pennsylvania, United States, but he extensively exhibits in Europe. Phil Sims has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Bartha Contemporary and at the George Lawson Gallery.

Achievements

• Phil Sims is known for his minimal art and non-objective imagery. He is highly famous for his paintings "Black Painting VI", "Cream / Red / Black", "MG 914", and "Red Orange Studio Painting."

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Untitled (Cat #257)

  • Untitled (Yellow)

  • MG 914

  • Untitled (Cream / Red / Black)

  • Green Navigator

  • Untitled (Red)

  • Black Painting VI

  • Green Portrait #9

  • Tea Bowl

  • Untitled (Cat #256)

  • Untitled

  • Red Orange Studio Painting

  • Untitled

  • Blazing Saddles

  • Untitled

Views

Phil Sims adheres to the artistic traditions of Minimalism. Phil Sims' signature brushstroke is delicate and subtle; the inclusion of clay in his pigments gives his paintings a soft matte texture that lets the viewer experience the full intensity of a beautiful color.

Membership

Phil Sims is a member of the Radical Painting Group.

References

• Phil Sims: Color in My Mind
  2009