Lawrence Scarpa has two jobs. By day he is an award-winning architect, co-founder of the multi-disciplinary firm Brooks Scarpa Huber, operating on the forefront of modernist and green design.  By night—or more accurately, very early morning—however, he is an artist, specializing in painting and sculpture. Scarpa’s works range from abstract watercolors to gargantuan public works such as the Florida Holocaust Memorial. His art has made its way to Architecture Sarasota, where his latest exhibition Wide Open: Paintings and Construction by Lawrence Scarpa, is on view until October 1. The wide-ranging collection of landscapes and abstract collages in Wide Open evidence a methodology that Scarpa works from within his artistic practice. “I tend to make things that I know are there than what I actually see,” says Scarpa. “It’s like when you close your eyes and think of someplace special to you—you can see it in your head like it was yesterday—but when you go there it never looks like you remembered it. I try to capture the spirit of a place and leave something behind for the viewer that evokes a more powerful emotion than just visual pleasure.” In both his art and architectural practice, Scarpa is not tied down to one medium or stylistic choice. Watercolor makes up much of the work, but the pieces in Wide Open also include drawings with graphite and paintings with oil as well. “I’m not pure in the sense of using a single medium. Some paintings will include a combination of watercolors, acrylic, tempera and even oil stick,” says Scarpa. “Watercolors are transparent to a degree, so when you layer them, you see one on top of the other—I find that revealing of the  strokes you’ve painted quite interesting.” Although Scarpa has been creating art his entire life, his painting began in earnest while studying in Italy. In lieu of payment, he paid off his meal tab to a local restaurateur in paintings—the concept caught on and Scarpa hasn’t put the brush down ever since. For Scarpa, the work is an extension of his mind—disappearing into his studio, a converted four-car garage—is where ideas blossom, extending from painting to blueprint and back again. “It would be kind of hard for me to be someone else,” says Scarpa. “It’s interesting, too—I always thought that since I trained as an architect, I’d paint like an architect, but I don’t at all. I even try to be that way sometimes and I just can’t do it.”SRQ