See Photos From artnet and Hennessy Paradis Imperial’s Celebration of Artist Phillip K. Smith III’s New Los Angeles Exhibition
The first thing you notice about
Phillip K. Smith III’s studio is that it’s pristine. His
works—pill-shaped pieces from his Lozenges series and
circular ones from his Toruses series—hang along the
galleries of the giant warehouse space, where, this past weekend,
the artist hosted a luncheon in collaboration with artnet and
Hennessy Paradis Imperial, the the pièce de
résistance of the historic
French brandy distiller and cognac maker,
Hennessy, to celebrate his new show at Bridge Projects in Los
Angeles.
The Toruses and
Lozenges works are, respectively, concentric acrylic
circles and ovals of ever-changing soft light, devoid of
imperfection and machined in a way that resembles work by the Los
Angeles-based Finish Fetish artists of the 1960s and ’70s. Smith’s
work is also lit up, in homage to the Light and Space artists of
the same period and city.
Phillip K. Smith giving a
behind-the-scenes demo about his Toruses works. Photo
courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
Based in Palm Desert, Smith’s studio
is a sleepy Coachella Valley town about two hours from LA, where
the weather is pushing 90 degrees in late
October. Inside the cool,
air-conditioned space, Smith led a guided tour, showing his pieces
to guests invited by artnet and Hennessy, who were flown down from
Los Angeles on a private jet.
Over the years, Smith has harnessed
the power of the landscape with several large-scale public
artworks: a cabin in the desert that he crowdfunded, pieces at two
separate Coachella Music Festivals, a skybridge in Detroit that he
lit up with color, and a curved wall of mirrors (The Circle of
Land and Sky) at the 2017 Desert X biennial in the Coachella
Valley. More public works are coming in the next
year.
“I love that people are recognizing
that I can take on very different, challenging sites,” Smith told
the group, gesticulating toward a maquette of the Detroit skybridge
behind him.
Phillip K. Smith with a glass of
Hennessy Paradis Imperial during the tour. Photo courtesy Quinn P.
Smith.
As the tour progressed, visitors
noticed a new bottle of Hennessy Paradis Imperial cognac shimmering
from its display table in the middle of the room.
The faceted crystal carafe (recently
redesigned by the Paris-based artist Arik Levy) reflected the
colors of the artist’s brightly lit works, which transformed into
gleaming jewel tones when viewed through the cognac’s alluring
caramel hue, adding another dimension of artistry to the
space.
David Chhay, a private client
manager at Moët Hennessy, described the correlation between Smith’s
work and the brand’s most rarified cognac. “This is a great
opportunity for us, because Hennessy Paradis Imperial is [also] a
beautiful work of art, and an innovative cognac from the shape of
the bottle, to what’s inside,” he said. “Having that correlation,
with [Smith’s] work, with the color and the reflection, is actually
a perfect condition for us.”
The Hennessy Paradis Imperial against
one of the artist’s works. Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
In the same way that Smith’s works,
from Lucid Stead to his most recent installations, are
finely honed, the Paradis Imperial cognac exemplifies the process
of precision.The Master
Blenders committee monitors and tastes eaux-de-vies (brandies aged in
wooden barrels) every day at 11
a.m., and on average
only 10 per harvest out of 10,000 have the style and potential to
be part of this special blend once they have reached their peak
moment of elegance.
Smith likes to work with the colors
“in-between” the primaries, and as guests tasted the rare cognac,
the evolution of its flavor—which began with a spark upon the first
sip and grew more complex thereafter—mirrored the subtle
transformation of Smith’s works’ changing colors. At one point, one
of the Toruses glimmered in
cognac amber.
Everyone sat down to lunch beneath
two of the artist’s new installation works (which were developed at
the same time as the pieces for his new Bridge Projects exhibition)
and enjoyed tastings of Hennessy Paradis Imperial, complemented by
a menu of heirloom tomato gazpacho soup, roasted chicken, salmon
en papillote, and butterscotch panna
cotta.
At the dinner. Photo courtesy Quinn P.
Smith.
The mix of food, cognac, and art
came together perfectly to create a lovely, light-filled experience
in the desert, as guests basked in the radiant color brought about
by the blending of Smith’s works and Hennessy Paradis
Imperial.
See more photos of the evening, below.
The private jet arrives in Palm Springs.
Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
Guests dismounting the private
jet. Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
The exterior of Phillip K. Smith III’s
studio and warehouse gallery. Photo courtesy Quinn P.
Smith.
Inside the gallery. Photo courtesy
Quinn P. Smith.
The artist chatting with guests over
glasses of Hennessy Paradis Imperial. Photo courtesy Quinn P.
Smith.
The Hennessy Paradis Imperial. Photo
courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
A view of the artist’s
studio. Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
Tastings of the Hennessy Paradis
Imperial. Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
A guest sipping the rare cognac before
one of Smith’s artworks. Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
Phillip K. Smith with a bottle of
Hennessy Paradis Imperial. Photo courtesy Quinn P. Smith.
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