By Philip K. Smith III
Existing historic windows, alupoly, aluminum, LED lighting, electronic components, unique color program
Three Half Lozenges is a collaboration with the existing three historic double-height windows that define the 1920’s facade of the Newark Museum of Art. Using the division and layout of the window panes as a canvas for light, this shifting light installation links directly to the artist’s on-going series of lozenge-shaped Lightworks. Located within the context of Downtown Newark, the installation will be uniquely color choreographed by Smith as a precisely paced, full spectrum work experienced from the streets and buildings surrounding Washington Park. Shifting from linear to rectangular to lozenge within gradating and full fields of color, the three half lozenge-shaped windows will operate as a monumental light-based triptych at the scale of architecture. During the day, the facade will remain as its true, historic self, but at sunset, the windows will slowly emerge as full color reconfiguring one’s experience of the Museum, Washington Park, and the City itself.
After growing up in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, Phillip K. Smith III received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. From his Palm Desert, CA studio, he creates light-based work that draws upon ideas of space, form, color, light + shadow, environment, and change.
