Appreciating art at The Alexander Hotel

I had the occasion recently to step inside The Alexander, a relatively new hotel in the CityWay development on the south fringe of downtown Indianapolis, specifically at Delaware and South streets.

I was there with a group to dine for brunch, but while there, one person in our party who had been there before directed us to the upper level -- actually the main floor, as it turns out -- where we enjoyed some of the artwork in the reception area lobby.

I had my iPhone with me and used it to snap these photos of what we saw. The lead photo is one of three closeups I offer here from a wall facing people as they exit elevators to the floor. It is a 2012 artwork by Mark Fox, and it has a lengthy title -- 39 point 76181 degrees North 86 point 154688 degrees West, which if you know your geography, are longitude and latitude grid points, and in this case, they happen to be the points for the hotel.

I took a photo of the story behind the artwork (it appears several photos below), so if you'd like to know more about it, take a look at it. Basically, Fox decided to use the text you see -- after laying out the grid coordinates -- to "delve into a more poetic, occasionally humorous presentation of historical and scientific information about the viewer's position in time and space ... " The "humorous" aspect would explain the wording I zeroed in on in the lead photo. If you look closely at the two closeups below, you can see my hands with the iPhone reflected in the work. A woman in our party is seen off to the left in one of those photos.

I couldn't get too close to it with the iPhone camera and maintain sharpness, so the photo of the description is a little blurry.

As always, click on any of the images to see larger, sharper versions of them.

Above and below: Two full perspectives of the Mark Fox artwork. The one above is without any reflections -- no people in the vicinity. But because of the mirrored elements, you'll often see reflections, such as the pointing woman in blue below, whose reflection is reflected onto the work by another mirror. 

Above: I wish I'd gotten a closeup of the large wall portrait of Madame C.J. Walker, an Indianapolis entrepreneur and philanthropist. The portrait was made from black pocket combs. 

Above and below: As the closeup below hopefully conveys, the bird shapes in this wall art was made from vinyl 33 rpm music discs. Hence, the record player/turntable and stacks of old 33 rpm album covers you see on the floor, where the birds seem to be rising from.  

Above: The stairs we climbed from the dining floor to reach the "main" lobby where we found the artwork. 

Above: The wall art behind the reception desk, which is just to the right of this frame.