Phillip K. Smith III's "Luminous Field 7:1" (2024) was included in the 2026 ArtCrush Auction at Aspen Art Museum, kindly donated by the artist and Hexton Gallery.
Now in its 21st year, ArtCrush brings together artists and galleries in support of Aspen Art Museum. As the museum’s largest annual fundraiser, ArtCrush supports exhibitions and educational programming reaching audiences in Aspen and beyond. The 2026 ArtCrush Gala took place on July 31, with auction works presented at Aspen Art Museum in the weeks leading up to the event.
In "Luminous Field 7:1," Smith creates a spatial painting in light, choreographing color, form, brightness, and pace of change across a traditionally proportioned, flat rectilinear glass canvas. Always in a constant state of change, this radiating work shape-shifts freely, presenting blurred fields of light that layer, merge, separate, move, and almost imperceptibly shift through a defined spectrum of color.
The choreography, at 1 hour, 11 minutes, 16 seconds, and 27 milliseconds in length and seamlessly looping, creates a focused, immersive state of perception that meditatively draws you inward.
"The Luminous Field works push forward from my Sky Torus series, where color was delineated across shifting concentric bands of light. In these new works, I am creating shifting, moving paintings in light that are free from any compositional constraints. Inspired by Rothko, I want a direct, sublime engagement with color. But now, through the medium of light orchestrated via my color choreography, this engagement expands into a meditatively paced, ever-changing canvas harnessed by emotion, memory, and time." - Phillip K. Smith III
Online bidding for the 2026 ArtCrush Auction was open through August 1 at 12 PM MT.
Artwork Details
Phillip K. Smith III
"Luminous Field 7:1," 2024
Aluminum, glass, LED lighting, electronic components, unique color choreography
69 x 69 x 9 inches
