Christian Culver, a young intern architect in the Atlanta area, is fond of his job at Rosser International, where he works on plans for sports stadiums. But sometimes he needs more of an outlet for his creative energy than work can provide.

"Like many interns," Culver says, "I didn't get to design as much as I wanted, so I started out doing my art as a sort of release of creativity."

Culver's art consists of large, overlapping, almost geometric swathes of color, which Culver applies with pastels. Mounted in several places on these panels of color—which bring to mind Rothko doing Mondrian—are photographs of buildings that Culver has encountered on his travels. The works, which Culver calls "Coalescent Constructions" have won the silver award at the Nagoya Design Do competition in Japan. They range in size from 36 by 48 inches to 60 by 100 inches, and they take him anywhere from a week to three weeks, working two or three hours every night.

"The pieces," Culver says, "can symbolize a city at one scale, or a building at another scale, depending on how you look at them." For Culver, the Coalescent Constructions are about experiencing new places, and though they are spontaneous, they are also inspired by the built environment. The pieces, he says "are about trying to put a 3D built environment into a 2D plane."

Kevin Lerner