Full Biography
Anthony Sims is an American contemporary painter born on October 11, 1998, in Southaven, Mississippi (MS). He grew up with his mother, older brother, and older sister in Lewisburg, MS, after his father was deported back to Mexico in 2006. Anthony graduated from Lewisburg High School in 2017.
In 2017, Anthony emerged in Memphis, Tennessee, with his first show at the Brooks Museum of Art. The following year, he participated in several street shows put on by local organizers in Memphis. In 2019, Sims landed his first official magazine publication in The Pinch Journal from the University of Memphis and his first gallery show at Jack Robinson's Gallery.
That same year, Anthony faced several complications and left Memphis on the verge of homelessness. In search of a fresh start, he drove 16 hours to New York City, where he met Diana Vachier. After leaving New York in July, Anthony moved to Dallas, Texas. The following October, Diana inducted Anthony into the American Pop Art collective created by herself and the late Steve Kaufman.
In November 2019, LA Producer NugLife commissioned cover artwork from Anthony, and the first project was "Long Flights" with Issa Gold. In March of 2020, Kate Cherry, the executive director of the Meridian Museum of Art, accepted Anthony's artwork into the museum's permanent collection, making him one of the youngest artists to ever be accepted into a museum's permanent collection. Sims met with Kate Cherry in June of 2020 to donate the works to the museum. Anthony left Steve Kaufman's American Pop Art collective at the end of 2020.
In January of 2021, Anthony was accepted onto the SuperRare marketplace. His painting and NFT video "Not sure about myself, I am certain" sold on SuperRare for $99,973 on May 14th. From June to October 2021, Anthony toured and held exhibitions in Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Austin. Sims was also featured in his first international show in London, UK, at the end of 2021.
At the beginning of 2022, Anthony opened up his first studio space, apart from his home, in what is known as the Tin District located in Dallas, TX. He was one of five artists featured in “Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis” and spoke on a panel discussion about NFTs at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. In September of 2022, Anthony held his first international solo show in Mexico City, featuring five paintings and five NFTs. Closing out 2022, Anthony exhibited an NFT during Art Basel on a 60ft wide billboard in partnership with Art Innovation Gallery.
Anthony's first show of 2023 was at the Science Museum Oklahoma. A month after the opening of his exhibition in Oklahoma, Sims' work was on a 70 meter wide, 20 meter tall billboard display in Hong Kong during Art Basel. Following his Hong Kong exhibition Anthony displayed a piece honoring the life of Tyre Nichols in Time Square, New York City.