Phillip K Smith III displays portals to eternity in his 'Outside In/ Inside Out' exhibition

American artist Phillip K. Smith III is known for employing light as a primary medium to fashion sculptures and installations that elicit optical experiences. His minimal interventions, situated in expansive outdoor landscapes as discreetly scaled sculptures, offer nuanced perceptual encounters tailored to the specific characteristics of each location. With the use of mirrors and LED technology, Smith's sculptures dissolve boundaries, transforming the interplay between light, colour, and surface within a broader field, thereby, prompting a shift in the pace of the viewers' experience, and altering their physical encounters.

Having received training as an artist and an architect at the Rhode Island School of Design, Smith meticulously combines his understanding of the site-specific nature of architecture, as well as its emphasis on scale, and its ability to tangibly impact human interactions, resulting in immersive viewing experiences. “I am interested in creating experiences that tap into universal beauty—experiences that make us step away from our patterns, our life, our work, our errands, and allow us to see sublime beauty shifting and changing before our eyes,” he explains. "Whether that's about how our perception functions or our relationship to form and shape or our understanding of colour, many of the artists that inspire me set out to discover truths both within their work and how we, as humans, interact with the visual world. Through that distillation process, they were able to navigate pure thought," he adds, expounding on his work that nods to California's 'Light and Space' movement (which he was a part of), recalling the geometry and precision of the works of minimalist artists such as James Turrell, Robert Morris, and Donald Judd.

The Southern California-based artist unveils his first-ever solo exhibition named Outside In / Inside Out, from July 12 - August 12, 2023, at the Hexton Gallery in Colorado, the US, featuring a collection of enigmatic wall sculptures that exist in a realm between conventional painting and the captivating potential of coloured light. These sculptural art pieces undergo subtle, almost imperceptible transformations, transitioning from reflective surfaces to a spectrum of hues orchestrated by Smith's refined aesthetic sensibility. The interplay between colour and reflection evokes a disorienting sensation, transporting viewers from familiar reality into a suspended realm within the ethereal atmosphere of Colorado. Consistent with Smith's creative approach, the art installations boast a colourful palette responding to spatial and atmospheric conditions present in nature. "I often think about the work of re-stitching or re-collaging the environment. There is an abstraction of reality that cycles the eye back to being highly aware of the real," he claims.

Smith's artwork evokes a sense of tranquillity, highlighting the role of time and our perception of it within our existence. Through the aforementioned subtle and nearly imperceptible transitions in light, the viewer is encouraged to pause and reflect. In a world consumed by fast-paced technology, connecting with a slow-motion visual cue becomes an act of rebellion, enlisting immediate attention. Smith elaborates, "More than ever, I feel that there is a real human desire for a dynamic, unfolding, tactile experience, in an effort to create a memory that is worthy of being remembered, documented, and shared with another. While that verbiage may allude to our digital presence in this world (and this is certainly part of the initial experience of my installations), I am really speaking of the analog experience, where it is okay to be by yourself or with another, still, quiet, looking, hearing, and breathing."

The symphony of changing hues in Smith's light sculptures creates a luminous portal, transforming a void into a space that resonates with our emotional memories, and projects our senses beyond the physical realm, and expands our ways of seeing and feeling. The reflective surfaces of the artworks place our self-perception as scrutinised by the external world. The calculated pace of Smith's creations represents our perception of ourselves as ever-evolving and changing, just as each interaction with his art results in a distinct experience.

Phillip K. Smith III's exhibition showcases two dominant models--the disk-shaped 'Sky Torus' sculptures, and variations of his elongated 'Lozenge' sculptures inspired by his Newark Museum of Art installation, which talk about 'The Light,' believed to be seen at the beginning and end of life, symbolising eternity. The 'Sky Torus,' with a form that embodies totality, unity, infinity, and perpetual motion, is placed in the art gallery's bay window and distorts directionality, reflecting the shifting sky by day and emanating ethereal colours ( through the LEDs) at dusk, extending Aspen's 'golden hour' into the night. Smith's art transforms domestic spaces by illuminating them, his pieces reflecting natural light as well as projecting vibrant colours, sometimes as delicate whispers imperceptible to the naked eye, and other times as bold bands of colour intertwining and enveloping the sculptures' surroundings. The environment becomes abstract, immersing viewers in an unknown space.

The exhibition showcases his mastery of using light to create immersive art, sculptures, and installations. His interventions blur the boundaries between light, colour, and surface, offering nuanced perceptual encounters. In his words, "No matter what the scale, material, or location, I am interested in the distillation of thought. The simplest thought is always the most beautifully complex."

Phillip K. Smith III's 'Outside In / Inside Out' is on view from July 12 - August 12, 2023, at the Hexton Gallery in Aspen, Colorado.

(Text by Aatmi Chitalia, Intern at STIR)