Ostara

Katie Sims (b. 1988)
Painting, for Katie Sims, is the closest
thing to an act of communion. Her work
reinforces the complexities of engagement,
of seeing beyond first appearances and
in questioning the origins and absolutes
presented. Constraints are an integral part
of her process, from a conceptual, painterly
and physical stance. These limitations help
her pare back to the essential, towards a
directness of emotional statement and to
silence; the silence the process facilitates
and the silence the work is trying to get
at. It is a simplifying, but not in the sense
as to reduce complexity for it is layered
with complexity and thus demands more
from the viewer. Maintaining a balance
around the transition point requires great
focus akin to any devotional practice. The
repetition and movement between prior
intention and intention-in-action supports
the virtues of listening and humility
as she ‘assists’ something into being.
Her work is a process that leads to a resolve.
She places herself in an in-between space,
between two opposing poles, challenging
what resolve is through the middle ground
until these two states are in a complete
tension. Each resolution is different;
chromatically, compositionally, through
colour or light, yet each involves a circular
dialogue of adding and removing. Thus
her resolve sustains an instability of form,
which manifests as hesitant and uncertain
of itself. Sims sees this liminal space as the
place where distinctions dissolve and the
best opportunity for renewal is found. It is
a fluid, malleable situation that enables new
customs and identities to be unconcealed.
Katie Sims was born in Shropshire, England
in 1988 and currently lives and works on the
small island of Gozo, Malta. Her paintings
have been exhibited internationally and
can be found in collections worldwide.
Aurora
oil on panel, 30 x 24 cm
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