BIO/STATEMENT
Jonathan Sims is a New York City based visual artist. Born in Austin, Texas, he began his practice with painting, but has since moved into sculpture, projection installations, print and curation.

His visual arts practice is characterized by geometric abstractions and light. A consistent premise underlying his work is that a modern human’s relationship with the very ancient past is mirrored in their relationship with the distant future.

2012 marks Sims’ first exhibitions in Texas before moving to NYC in 2013. Sims joined the Flux Factory Residency program in 2016, where he maintains a studio and sits on the board. Major shows include a solo exhibition at Flux Factory in New York City in 2017, and installations at Lehman College, the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival in the UAE, and Washington College in 2018-19.

Since 2016, Sims has participated in a number of residencies, including Wassaic Project, the Visible Futures Lab at SVA, ChaNorth, Aros Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark, and the Listhús Residency in Iceland.

Sims has also curated three major group art exhibitions, two of which focus on light art in dark spaces: Solstice in 2019 at Flux Factory, and SPACE:LIGHT at Plaxall in 2020.

“My artwork seeks the underlying geometry of all things, with full awareness that the geometries of our universe, societies, thinking, and emotions innately refuse comprehension. Instead of demanding answers, I believe that patterns lie within the questions themselves, and within those who ask them.

I create experiences that reveal patterns in the structures of the human mind. In the visual arts, particularly abstraction, I can engage these ideas without being forced to rigorously define them within the philosophical paradigms built on foundations of obsolete hierarchies.

My practice stretches across different mediums, but these share common themes, particularly geometric form and composition that suggest language and mathematical arrangement. I love working in light because its physics are so deeply complex and subtle that I often feel that I am merely guiding light into being instead of actively molding and constraining it.

I tend to think of my work as a form of conjuring, and I draw on a number of influences: astronomy, language, divination, poetry, mirrors, ancient monuments, spells, astrolabes, radiant designs, sigils, and spaceflight, among many others.I hope that my work can float in a space out of the contemporary moment and between all these influences, drawing a through-line that connects ancient humanity through history and into today, and then suggests possibilities about our distant future.”