Andrew Sim Four rainbows, three werewolves, four trees, four santas & five horses (one with wings).

The Modern Institute is delighted to present an exhibition by Andrew Sim at 1-4 Walker's Court, Soho. The new pastels in Four rainbows, three werewolves, four trees, four santas & five horses (one with wings) continue the artist’s concern with a set of core motifs relating to growth and companionship. Sim draws upon everyday experience to inflects these with elements of autobiography, anthropomorphizing natural subjects and creating new characters, to convey their relationship to Queer love, culture and identity. Each motif holds a deep personal significance, and they are often repeated and twinned to create a series of connections either within or across works.

There is a joyous, communal atmosphere to this suite of pastels. The objects in them shine like neon against their hazy black backgrounds – an allusion to both nightlife and dreams which sits perfectly within the streets of Soho. The space is adjacent to the location of the now-defunct strip club and theatre Raymond Revuebar (1958–2004). New depictions of child-like stars and rainbows across the works could be mistaken for club lights. The werewolves refer directly to the artist’s experience of Queer nightlife. They are depicted standing together in friendship, one with a hand on the shoulder of the other – like friends in a smoking area. Sim’s santas also discretely refer to club culture. Their pose and shared aesthetic are a tongue-in-cheek nod to encounters with bears – larger and often bearded men exuding a rugged, traditional masculinity – at gay and leather bars in Soho.

Sim’s monkey puzzle trees have a clear relationship to the groupings of werewolves and santas. The motif is based on a tree planted near Sim’s childhood home which an I Ching reading led them to reconsider. The divination suggested they ‘grow like a tree’. Sim has previously depicted singular trees but here their overlapping branches call to mind people holding hands. The horses also find new groupings. Sim began painting them while on residency at Villa Lena Foundation, Italy. This was a liberating time for the artist which gave them space to reflect on their gender presentation. For Sim, the serene horses become symbolic of a meditative and metamorphic period. Brought together in Soho, the various cosy and intertwined motifs speak to the different types of love, support and fun they have found in the Queer scene in London over this last year.