Phillip K. Smith III

photo by Lance Gerber
From his Southern California studio, Phillip K. Smith III creates light-based work that draws upon ideas of space, form, color, light and shadow, environment, and change. 
Smith is known for creating large-scale temporary installations such as Lucid Stead  in Joshua Tree, CA, Reflection Field and Portals  at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, ¼ Mile Arc  in Laguna Beach, CA, The Circle of Land and Sky  at the inaugural 2017 Desert X exhibition, and Open Sky  at the Salone del Mobile, Milano, in 2018. Many of these installations are featured in his latest catalog titled Five Installations published by Grand Central Press (2017). His public artworks are sited in Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, MO; Nashville, TN; Oklahoma City, OK, and beyond; the artist was recently commissioned to create permanent, light-based works for the cities of West Hollywood, CA, and Bellevue, WA. Smith’s work was also included in the recent exhibition Unsettled  organized by the Nevada Museum of Art and artist Ed Ruscha. After growing up in the Coachella Valley, Smith received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design.