Phillip K. Smith III (born December 18, 1972) is an American artist based out of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. He primarily creates light-based work that draws upon ideas of light and space, form, color, light and shadow, environment, and change. Phillip K. Smith III received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. Phillip K Smith III has worked on and created numerous large-scale sculptures across the country, as well as internationally. He has participated in numerous museum installations and shows around the world. His artwork is held in many important private collections as well as multiple museum's permanent collections. Phillip K. Smith III has often been compared to his predecessors such as Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd,

Craig Kauffman Craig Kauffman (March 31, 1932 – May 9, 2010) was an artist who has exhibited since 1951. Kauffman's primarily abstract paintings and wall relief sculptures are included in over 20 museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whit ...

, Constantin Brancusi,

Sol Lewitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pref ...

, and

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was though ...

Background

Phillip K. Smith III was born in Los Angeles in 1972. He grew up in the

Coachella Valley , map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg , map_caption = Coachella Valley , location = California, United States , coordinates = , width = , boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacint ...

in Southern California, after his family moved there from LA when he was in first grade. Phillip K. Smith III received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture at the

. After living in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, Boston, Massachusetts and

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he returned to the

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

area in late 2000. In 2004, he bought 5 acres of desert land that would later house ''Lucid Stead''. Smith was an artist in residence at Palm Springs Art Museum in 2010. He currently works from his Palm Desert, California studio

List of notable installations

''Lucid Stead''

Joshua Tree, California Joshua Tree is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 7,414 at the 2010 census. At approximately above sea level, Joshua Tree and its surrounding c ...

. 2013 ''Lucid Stead'' was a temporary art installation created in 2013 in

. Set in the Californian High Desert, for the installation Phillip K. Smith III used a 70+ year old homestead shack "''Lucid Stead is about tapping into the quiet and the pace of change of the desert,"'' said Smith at the time. ''"When you slow down and align yourself with the desert, the project begins to unfold before you. It reveals that it is about light and shadow, reflected light, projected light, and change''."

''Reflection Field''

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...

. 2014 ''Reflection Field'' was an art installation created in 2014 for the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

. Phillip K. Smith III created an installation of mirrored forms that by day provided a series of reflections, but as day transitioned to night, the mirrored forms transformed into colorful forms of light.

''Portals''

. 2016 ''Portals'' created in 2016 commission by Goldenvoice for the

. an 85-foot diameter, circular, open-air pavilion. At the center of the pavilion, a

mesquite tree Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under grou ...

. Surrounding the

eight "portals," which feature pulsing, LED-powered concentric circles.

''1/4 Mile Arc''

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...

. 2016 Created in 2016 for part of the Laguna Art Museum's Art and Nature programme. A 1/4 mile arc of mirror polished stainless posts gently curving along main beach in the Southern California beach town of

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and a ...

''The Circle Of Land And Sky''

Palm Desert, California. 2017 Part of the inaugural 2017 Desert X site-specific,

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

exhibition. ''The Circle Of Land And Sky'', was located in Palm Desert, California. The installation, a reflective and dynamic sculpture formed by 300 reflectors, made of polished stainless steel, all angled at 10 degrees to form a circle that reflected the desert landscape and sky.

''120 Degree Arc East-Southeast''

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...

. 2017 Sculpture created in 2017 in

in association with Faena Art.

''Open Sky''

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

. 2018 ''Open Sky'' presented during Salone del Mobile 2018 in association with COS. The atmospheric, large-scale sculptural installation was installed in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

’s Palazzo Isimbardi, inviting visitors to experience an artwork that transforms the historic courtyard into physical ring of reflected sky through carefully-angled mirrored planes.

''Detroit Skybridge''

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. 2018 ''Detroit Skybridge'', unveiled in 2018, reactivates a disused pedestrian walkway that links two towers in the

downtown area. Phillip K Smith III transformed the 100-foot-long bridge adding LED lights behind the translucent panels, so they shine through as blocks of color.

Quotes

''“We desire the powerful, memorable experiences that we can’t fully explain. We desire mystery and beauty as they remind us of the unity, love, immensity, and incomprehensible complexity that exist in the world.”'' – Phillip K. Smith III

Bibliography

Smith III, Phillip K: (2017) ''Five Installations'' Laguna Art Museum and Grand Central Press

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Phillip K. III 1972 births 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists American installation artists Artists from Los Angeles Rhode Island School of Design alumni Living people