Elias Sime

James Cohan is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Elias Sime, on view at 43 Rue de Montmorency from October 20 through October 26, 2025. The gallery will host a VIP preview on Monday, October 20, 2025, from 10 AM to 6 PM.

Elias Sime (b.1968 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) transforms carefully selected everyday materials into lyrical abstract compositions. Working with electronic components such as circuit boards, computer keys, and telecommunications wires, he creates intricate works that evoke topographies, color fields, and urban grids. The works in this presentation mark a new chapter in Sime’s ongoing Tightrope series, which he began in 2009. By working within a restrained palette, he explores subtle, undulating shifts in tone across braided wire panels, rendered in shades of grey, white, green, and blue. They reveal an extraordinary attention to detail that challenges viewers to reconsider the value, beauty, and boundless potential of human ingenuity.

For Sime, the histories embedded in these materials are central. His practice explores transformation—both in physical form and in how we understand the shifting relationship between technology and humanity. Reflecting the dynamic interplay between technological progress and human experience, his works capture the ways our lives are bound to the devices that surround us. They invite viewers to consider not only what is visible, but also the unseen systems, extractions, and exchanges that shape contemporary life.