Phil Sims: COLOR / exploration in painting and ceramics

Brian Gross Fine Art is pleased to present Phil Sims: COLOR / exploration in painting and ceramics, an exhibition of new works, opening Saturday, November 3, 2018, with a reception from 4-6pm and artist talk at 4:30pm.  On view will be a selection of new paintings and ceramic sculptures exploring the “perceptual/emotional nature of color”, the defining motivation behind all of Sims’ work.  The exhibition will be on view through December 22, 2018.

Long concerned with the physical nature of color, the coupling of Sims’ ceramics and paintings in the exhibition reveals his latest explorations in this line of inquiry.  Best known for his monochromatic paintings, Sims has also been involved in ceramics for many years.  Sims crafted the ceramic works in the exhibition using a wood fired anagama kiln of ancient Japanese design, using his glazes as an integral part of the sculpting act.  Like the complex surfaces of his paintings, Sims combines his pitted, crazed and highly textured clay forms with richly hued glazes to a sublimely poetic effect. 

Sims’ paintings display the same consideration of material properties found in his three dimensional works.  Formed through the accumulation of numerous thin layers of color stained directly into raw linen, the finished surfaces of Sims’ paintings radiate the subtle nuance of perceptual color, yielding a deeply emotional and rewarding visual experience. 

Phil Sims is an important painter in the context of minimal art.  He was born in Richmond, California in 1940, and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute.  His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe and his work can be found in museum collections, including the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Wadsworth Antheneum Museum, Hartford, CT; Scripps Institute, La Jolla, CA; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA; Musee D’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France; Malmo Kunsthalle, Malmo, Sweden; and Kunsthalle zu Keil, Keil, Germany, among others.  Most notable among his private collections is The Panza Collection in Varese, Italy, which owns over 100 canvases by Phil Sims.  This is Sims’ third exhibition with the gallery.