Phillip K. Smith III Debuts “Portals: A Space for Color” at Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
During Design Miami 2017, dozens of tall, slender bars of mirrored-polished stainless steel poked up from the sand outside the Faena Hotel Miami Beach. Throughout the day, they reflected the sun, clouds, and surrounding buildings. Called 120 Degree Arc East-Southeast, its investigation of light, form, and environment is the focus of its creator, Phillip K. Smith III. Today, different works are the subject of his debut museum exhibition in Northern California: “Portals: A Space for Color,” at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art through April 7. Again, the white fiberglass rounds change over time, from pastel to saturated. They were part of a larger installation from the 2016 Coachella music festival near Joshua Tree National Park, which, perhaps not coincidentally, is where Smith, a former architect, created his first artist-initiated public project, Lucid Stead, an old shack he dressed up in mirrors and LEDs.

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