katie sims | opening gambit

1 / Hoxton Art Gallery

HOXTON ART GALLERY

64 Charlotte RoadLondonEC2A 3PE

T +44 (0)2077396852E [email protected]

KATIE SIMS - OPENING GAMBIT

12th October - 10th November 2012

CURATED BY VIRGINIA VERRAN


12th October - 10th November 2012

CURATED BY VIRGINIA VERRAN

KATIE SIMS - OPENING GAMBIT

Hoxton Art Gallery are pleased to announce Katie Sims’ first solo exhibition in London, cu-

rated by artist Virginia Verran.

Sims is a British artist who graduated from University College Falmouth in 2010. At a young

age the artist has been heralded by critics and curators in Britain and has won numerous

prizes including the prestigious Richard Ford Award and the Midas Award. In January this

year curator Pryle Berhman described Sims as ‘one to watch’ from Britain’s new generation

of artists (The Independent).

Although this is her first solo show in London, Sims’ work has been celebrated with two solo

shows in the UK. Sims is known for paying homage to masters from the early Renaissance

and Baroque periods. A running theme in her practice is the subversion of classical and

mythological constructs found within the paintings of masters such as Mantegna and Pous-

sin. The artist’s use of geometric motifs is often seen to replace that of a reclining nude or a

group of figures found within traditional classical paintings and her signature brush work is

known for its organic and ethereal quality.

Among the artworks in the show will be a large scale oil painting inspired by Uccello’s Battle

of San Romano in the National Gallery’s collection, London, and a variety of works influenced

by pieces in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, where the artist recently completed a residency.

Virginia Verran is an artist living and working in London. She has exhibited widely in Britain

and internationally including at the Henie-Onsad Kunstsenter, Norway, Frueshorge Contem-

porary Drawings, Berlin, Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall, and Transition Gallery, London. In 2010

she won the grand Jerwood Drawing Prize. She teaches at Chelsea College of Art and Design

and University College Falmouth.


KATIE SIMS

‘The paintings of Katie Sims pay homage to masterpieces by

Mantegna and Poussin, but deconstruct their studied, grace-

ful air through the organic fluidity of her brushwork and the

incongruous addition of geometric shapes that further un-

dermine the compositional structure of her source images.’

- Pryle Berhman, ‘How to spot the next Damien Hirst’, The

Independent, Jan 2012.


KATIE SIMS

B. in 1988Lives and works in Shropshire, UK

EDUCATION

2007-10 BA (Hons) Fine Art [First Class], University College Falmouth2006-07 Foundation Diploma [Distinction], Byam Shaw, University of the Arts, London

AWARDS

2011 Selected for Sir Richard Ford Award, Residency at the Museo del Prado, Madrid2010 Selected for Channel 4/Saatchi Gallery New Sensations Winner of the Midas Award

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

2011 Millennium Gallery, St. Ives

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011 Symbiosis, Hoxton Art Gallery, London New Decade, 42 Shore Street, London

Winter Exhibition, Hoxton Art Gallery, London

2010 Channel 4/Saatchi New Sensations, London Midas Award, Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn Stone Soup, The Raq Factory, Heneage Street, London

PUBLICATIONS

The Catlin Guide 2011


Breathless Night, 2012

Oil on board 24 x 30 cm


Burn Back to Grey, 2012

Oil on board80 x 104 cm


Trinity (After Ribera), 2012



Portal, 2012



Fleeting Romano, 2012



Taffy, 2012



Brooks Ran Gold (revisited), 2012



Hunted, 2012



Deadlock (after Bruegel), 2012



Night-cap, 2012



Silver Waters Wide, 2012



Hiatus, 2012



Monoprints, 2010 - 2012

Monoprints


Scrim (grid version), 2011

monoprint 28.5 x 21.5 cm


Shadow (descent), 2010

monoprint23.5 x 14.5 cm


Making Tracks, 2011

monoprint 26 x 19 cm


Footfall, 2012

monoprint19 x 27.5 cm


Hourglass, 2011

monoprint 20 x 27.5 cm


A discussion between the Head of Hoxton Art Gallery, Lydia Cowpertwait,

and Katie Sims

LC - Congratulations on your solo show at Hoxton Art Gallery. Since graduating from Univer-

sity College Falmouth what has been your best experience as a young artist?

KS - I consider myself to be so fortunate with the opportunities that have arisen since grad-

uating. Each have been individually important in my development as an artist and in learn-

ing how to navigate the art world, however, if I had to highlight one experience it is being

selected for Channel 4/Saatchi New Sensations Competition immediately upon graduating.

The Prize is open to all art students completing BA and MA courses in the UK and each year,

twenty shortlisted graduates are chosen to present their work in an exhibition in London in

October during Frieze Week. Having studied in Falmouth and lived and worked in Shropshire,

New Sensations gave me the crucial exposure necessary to maintain the practice and reach

larger audiences. Consequently, people started approaching me to work with them, which has

led to many exciting exhibiting opportunities initiating relationships with curators and collec-

tors.

LC - Although this is your first solo show in London you have had one other solo show in the

UK. Can you tell us about it?

KS - Transpose was the title of my first solo show, held at Millennium Gallery in St Ives, in

October 2011. It was the prize for winning The Midas Award in 2010, an initiative between

Midas Construction, Newlyn Art Gallery, Millennium and University College Falmouth designed

to help emerging artists enter the professional art world after graduating. The show demon-

strated how my painting practice had evolved since the Degree show. Furthermore, it re-

mains a poignant moment in my career because it marked my return to Cornwall one year on

and an opportunity to see many familiar and supportive faces.

LC - Your work tends to play with the theme of subversion. Quite often you reference the

works of old masters, which you then subvert with your own style, using geometric motifs for


example. Can you explain where this idea came from?

KS - I have always felt that contrasts are where interest lies. When you present two op-

posites or contrasting voices together on a painted support you are forcing discordant lan-

guages into dialogue. They serve to enhance each other’s qualities. The intricate forms that

disrupt my paintings surface I describe as fragments; they derive from my sustained interest

in the observed world, typically overlooked objects that are often in a state of flux and insta-

bility. How I rationalise these reflections involve an engagement with process and material-

ity. It is important for me to achieve distance from the context of the image and to look at it in

terms of how its component shapes can be applied. I reconfigure isolated sections by means

of collage and drawing before seeing how they can inform the paintings. These strategies

subject the image to a process of estrangement and reinterpretation. Simultaneously, they

appear both strange and familiar.

LC - Do you feel your new works in the exhibition demonstrate a new direction in your prac-

tice?

KS - Much of my recent work comes from a collection of drawings I made in the Prado upon

receipt of the Richard Ford Award. The time I spent studying the collection proved to be an

extremely formative period for reconsidering my practice. I became engrossed by the sense

of unease found in certain works by Ribera, Goya and Velazquez and on my return I made a

series of liberating studies informed by the energy and movement in these works, some of

which are presented in this exhibition. I think the show demonstrates how the work is trying

to be less polite and more poignant. I am also presenting paintings which deal with the figure

– something until now, that has been absent in my work. I feel I am thinking a lot more about

the composition in my pieces and the possibilities with framing, isolating and editing parts of

the original reference point. This feels a lot more exciting.

The show also presents my first large scale painting referencing The Battle of San Romano

(1438-40) by Paolo Uccello, housed in the National Gallery, London. Painting at this scale

challenged my handling of the medium and also made me conscious of how I needed to make


my paintings work on both a macro and micro scale. I can now see my work developing in

terms of scale.

LC - The title of your show is Opening Gambit. What does this reference?

KS - The title Opening Gambit originally came from a painting I made a year ago. This is my

first solo show in London, my ‘opening move’ so to speak. I often think about the manner I

work in in relation to chess; you start with the opening move and end in a series of smaller

moves which have significant consequences. The act of painting is fraught with risk because

you have to sacrifice what you had before in order to potentially achieve something greater.

So the title seemed appropriate in many ways for this reason.

LC - What would you like to achieve in the future as an artist? Do you have any goals at large?

KS - I’d be interested in pursuing more residences as I think these are tremendously valua-

ble in forging new contacts and relationships with people and in seeing how a change in your

working environment can impact upon your practice. Should the opportunity arise, I would

love to exhibit outside of the UK and begin to build an international profile.

LC - What advice would you give young artists who are about to graduate or have just gradu-

ated from art school?

KS - You have to be incredibly proactive and motivated. It’s all about whom you know, being

in the right place at the right time and reacting to it. Everything you put yourself up for, do

it to the best of your ability because people that you work with will remember you for it. It’s

important to nurture the contacts you make because you never know where these might lead

in the future. Be prepared for rejection, it’s all too common in the art world; you need to dust

yourself off and stay motivated. When you graduate, don’t put yourself under pressure to bet-

ter your Degree show work immediately. Perhaps most important of all though - don’t stop

making. If you do, it becomes a difficult barrier to overcome.

32 / Hoxton Art Gallery HOXTON ART GALLERY

katie sims | opening gambit

Documents

victoria art gallery

chelsea college of art

sims work

newlyn gallery

newlyn art gall

london midas award

transition gallery

london new decade