“I create art at the scale of architecture”

in an interview with Dezzen last year, acclaimed architect Phillip K Smith spoke about his journey from and architect to an artist. Smith who produces a range or art commissions produces his works based on the built environment. Perhaps his most well know piece being Lucid Stead, a 70 year old shack in the middle of the Californian dessert stripped with mirrored cladding to create the illusion that the shack is transparent.

The Oxford dictionary defines the artist as someone who “practises or performs any of the creative arts, such as a sculptor, film-maker, actor, or dancer” and the architect as someone who “designs buildings and in many cases also supervises their construction”. the words design and creative arts are the two coupling terms here suggesting there may be overlaps between the two professions.

To design a building is to creatively divide space into functional blocks that meet the desired use of the building. However the form that architects derive around these spaces is for me what constitutes as art. take Zaha Hadid’s practice outrageously curvy organic buildings. the elegance of such sumptuous curves serves little functional need in terms of space its main purpose is to appease the user via its appearance. This romanticism is similar to that of a painting in the sense it serves no functional purpose in the sense of space, it’s just pretty to look at.

however artists alike architects often portray metaphorical meanings behind there forms. Van Gogh one of the great artists of human history created many a painting that at a glance may just appear light and joyful. However behind such paintings such as sunflower there is much greater meaning; one could argue he connotes themes of life and death with the celebration of bright green and yellows contrasted with the withered flowers.

The Reichstag’s dome in Berlin, by Norman Foster at a glance is just large glass dome letting light into the grand parliament building. However one could also argue that it’s a statement that in our ever changing political landscape are democratic government should be more transparent. the dome funnels down into the debating chamber below, giving visual access and transparency from the public platform above.

Greece is just started to recover from an economic crisis that has shook the very fabric of the EU. Athens, the capital, like many other major Greek cities has suffered significantly. Riots and violence induced from the crisis often make the front pages of global newspapers. However the political unrest is seen clearest and most vibrantly on the walls of the Athenian urban landscape.

politically aggravated graffiti litters every corner of Athens, there’s no escaping it. Where in Berlin the unrest between western society and the soviet union the murals were displayed on a neat wall running through the city. In Athens the art is everywhere.

the artists don’t only use the walls as canvases but they often incorporate the architecture of the building within the pieces. The Berlin wall attracted many new and upcoming artists to the area. A free canvas and global publicity, what more could an up and coming artist want. It is thought that Athens will offer the same for artists of this generation.