The Sublime Repurposing of Elias Sime

Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 6, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 47 x 80 inches. © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

By EDWARD WAISNIS March 1, 2026

The fact that Elias Sime is a luddite, as far as using computers for their intended purpose goes, while eminently admirable, for the freedom and purity it implies, his cooption of the very material comprising the devices, repurposed as art supplies with a blindness to the choke of technology, is the strength of his practice.

Sime’s practice is rooted in a labor-intensive process of reclamation. He transforms discarded technological fragments—miles of telecommunications wires and circuit boards—into intricate, wall-based topographies.

The wires, sorted by the color of their sheathing, are braided and hammered in place to a wood substrate with thousands of nails, arranged in pre-determined patterns. The multiple panels that comprise a singular piece, I assume, assist in production as well as the logistics of shipping.

Sime’s ingenious methods join the ranks of those other great recyclers El Anatsui and John Chamberlain. As well as the numerous practitioners termed self-taught (in polite company) from Martín Ramirez to Thorton Dial.

With a body of work shown under a blanket title, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ), that is ascribed–followed by successive numbering–to all of the nine works on show. The nomenclature suggests a dichotomy between the fragility of our environment; the precarious balance between man-made infrastructure and natural systems. Implying the dumping of outmoded technology to the market in Adidas Ababa.

Detail: Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 10, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 93.5 x 80 inches. © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

Back in Ethiopia, in addition to overseeing his own production, Sime’s work with the traditional building materials of mud and straw for the construction of Zoma Village* incorporated patterns that have cross-pollinated into the new works. From textiles to the abstraction of Neoplasticism, Sime spans realms. There are arabesques that one associates with middle-Eastern and Indian civilizations; as though scenes from A Thousand and One Nights were illustrated by Paul Klee.

Comparison to aerial views of densely packed landscapes are common when delineating Sime’s imagery, and that quality remains. But, a new investment in proscenium frontality dispels readings favoring mapping.

Installation View: ELIAS SIME, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 11, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 66 x 112 inches. © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

The exhibition opens with a vestibule space covered in a rich shade of royal purple against which hangs FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 11, all works 2026, in which a bulging cerulean ‘hive’, bearing Sime’s signature trance-inducing 3D box pattern, bulges down from an indeterminate off-frame environment. Surrounding this dominance earth and orange hued bands, circulate encrusted with nobs (bees?) of bunched up wire. The shade of the wall color on which it is hung contribute to a regality.

Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 10, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 93.5 x 80 inches. © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

Yule-invoking red/green pairings find favor in a few of the works FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 10, among them. Sliced and diced motherboards, laid down akin to tile work, provide an intricate green field for the lower two-thirds with the upper quadrant a blazing blood red with the grandeur of a cathedral ceiling.
 

Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 1, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 66 x 80 inches © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

Detail: Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 1, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 66 x 80 inches © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

Bearing a sumptuousness that begs for physical immersion, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 1, offers an overall field of alternating azures in the familiar design. The anthropomorphic breaks in the symmetry, covered in knobs (another Sime staple) of wire, may just be fish floating about?

Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 9, 2026, woven electrical wires on wood panel, 56 x 80 inches. © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ) 9, harbors an enclave of jaunty block structures nestled under a bestowing shroud  of magenta. Surrounded by lush fields, where the buds are blooming, and suspended in a swirling coalescing galaxy of lush purples. An elegant interpretation of an exotic environment suitable for habitation by The Jetsons.
 

Installation View: Elias Sime, FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ), James Cohan © Elias Sime 2026. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, NY. Photo: Dan Bradica.

By dissolving hierarchies between the handmade and the manufactured, Sime’s work serves as a feverish fusion of contemporary life, documenting the movement of materials across the globe, and delivering friezes of borderless contemplation. A dose of inherent spirituality cements a resonant message, offering a tonic to our artificial embracing times.
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* From the Press Release: "As an extension of his art-making, Sime along with Meskerem Assegued, a curator and an anthropologist are deeply committed to the preservation and regeneration of vernacular architectures and landscaping influenced by ancient architecture from various parts of the world. Together they designed and built the award-winning Zoma Museum in Addis Ababa, an environmentally conscious international art center described by The New York Times as “a voluptuous dream, a swirl of ancient technique and ecstatic imagination. Zoma Museum that opened in 2019 has expanded facilities that include a gallery space, library, children’s center, edible garden, elementary school, art and vernacular school, amphitheater, cafe and museum shop."

Elias Sime: FINAL DROP (የመጨረሻዋ ጠብታ)
James Cohan
48 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013
February 20–March 21, 2026