Red Orange Studio Painting 2004

Phil Sims’s “Red Orange Studio Painting” is a square field of color, built up with layers of tiny touches of paint, like a whole world made out of atoms. I imagine Sims in his studio, maybe listening to music, layering on this warm hue, a bit like terra cotta or a muted sunset. What was he thinking as he worked? Was he trying to capture a feeling, a memory, or just the pure sensation of color? Up close, the texture is almost topographical, with each tiny daub of paint creating a little peak or valley. You can see how the act of painting itself becomes a meditation, a way of being present in the moment. Think of Agnes Martin. For me, a painting like this is part of an ongoing conversation among artists, reaching back to Rothko or Barnett Newman, and forward to younger painters working today. Each one building on what came before, pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. It is a space of ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.