PLAYING WITH FIRE
SIMS REED
The works are framed in oak frames under museum glass.
Each work is priced at £1,750
PLAYING WITH FIRE
Returning to Sims Reed Gallery with even more vivacity and charm, Playing with Fire is the new solo show by British artist Aaron Kasmin.
Open from 29th May – 14th June 2025, Playing with Fire marks the artist’s sixth solo exhibition with over 30 new diverse and colourful works.
Kasmin’s new works take inspiration from the world of American matchbook advertisements, a visual language that Kasmin celebrates, to reflect the vibrancy and complexity of mid-20th century culture. While matchbooks were once small, transient objects, Kasmin’s dynamic works breathe new life into these forgotten pieces of advertising history, capturing themes such as dining,, fashion, nightlife, and travel with an updated, contemporary twist.
Kasmin’s myriad of nostalgic chalk pencil drawings are drawn from the artist’s own treasured vintage matchbook collection. Having acquired his first matchbook in 2012, Kasmin became an avid collector of Lion Match Company’s matchbooks and was inspired by their lively and inventive images that reflect the rise of America’s consumer culture, originally mass-produced for advertising purposes. In the early 1920s, the humble matchbook soon became the most effective advertising medium and embraced by almost every industry. Its broad range of subjects are colourfully reflected in this exhibition.
Berry Brothers coloured pencil on paper, 2025 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
The Silver Dollar coloured pencil on paper, 2024
30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in 4
Wiltons coloured pencil on paper, 2024
30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
The Chef coloured pencil on paper, 2024 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in 6
Lobster coloured pencil on paper, 2024 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
If You Want Quality
Lucca
The Russian Tea Room
Hopkins’ Horseshoe Bar coloured pencil on paper, 2024
x 30 cm / 8.3 x 11.7 in
The Cheerleaders coloured pencil on paper, 2023 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in 14
coloured pencil on paper, 2024
x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
Schweppes coloured pencil on paper, 2024
Cowboy coloured pencil on paper, 2023 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
coloured pencil on paper, 2024
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“Matchbooks are not just forgotten ephemera; they are visual stories of an era, capturing the birth of consumer culture and the excitement of advertising as art. With Playing with Fire, I want to shed new light on these miniature masterpieces and remind us of the power they once held.”
–Aaron Kasmin
Trocadero
coloured pencil on paper, 2024
30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in 20
Capitol Theatre
coloured pencil on paper, 2022
30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
NFS
Chefs
coloured pencil on paper, 2023 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
Zanzabar coloured pencil on paper, 2024
x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
Private Banquet Hall coloured pencil on paper, 2024
Charleroy
coloured pencil on paper, 2025
x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
Beau Brummel coloured pencil on paper, 2024
Drummers
It Pays to Play
coloured pencil on paper, 2023 30 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
The Red Devil
coloured pencil on paper, 2023
x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
Aaron Kasmin (b. 1963) is a British contemporary artist based in London. He studied at the Chelsea School of Art in London and has exhibited in New York, Paris and London. He works with watercolour, oil paint and chalk pencils, preferring pencils for these drawings, “as with paint it would all be too fussy – drawing is a much more immediate medium,” says Kasmin.
Sims Reed Gallery is located alongside Sims Reed Books, in the heart of London’s St. James’s.
The gallery specialises in modern, post-war and contemporary original prints and works on paper. Founded in 1995, the gallery has since grown to hold an extensive inventory of works by leading artists of the 20th century alongside major contemporary artists. These include David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Estes, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso.
The gallery is a member of the Society of London Dealers (SLAD) and the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA).
