MG 914

In addition to a selection of drawings and prints by Phil Sims, the Clemens Sels Museum Neuss owns a large-format oil painting by the American artist who since the 1970s has participated in international exhibitions on the theme of color. The monochrome square entitled “MG 914” bears witness to Sims’s intensive study of color. For him it is all about sensory effects and the material color values – two aspects that have been the focus of his artistic work from the outset. Initially the painting creates a direct color sensation and allows an immaterial color space to arise. On closer observation, the pure action of the color recedes in favor of the structured surface of the painting. On the surface structure that Sims refers to as “skin of paint” refracts the surrounding light. Thanks to the fine variations in the tonal values, the paint skin begins to pulsate and open up. The painting develops a spatial color effect and sensual presence in the room thanks to the carefully calculated interplay of visual and tactile qualities and format, material and light.