''Empire Towers'' is a

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

work by sculptor R.M. Fischer. It currently resides on the grounds of the

Indianapolis Art Center The Indianapolis Art Center is an art center located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Center, founded in 1934 by the Works Project Administration during the Great Depression as the Indianapolis Art League, is located along the White ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Indiana, United States. It is on loan from the Carl Solway Gallery in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio.

Description

''Empire Towers'' consists of two

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

grain silo A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes ...

s standing tall on four poles. The tops of the silos are capped off with designs that are similar to those found on

Royal Guard A royal guard is a group of military bodyguards, soldiers or armed retainers responsible for the protection of a royal person, such as the emperor or empress, king or queen, or prince or princess. They often are an elite unit of the regular arm ...

helmets A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...

Artist

Sculptor R.M. Fischer uses objects found in the industrial, plumbing and electrical industries to sculpt, by hand, functional artworks. His early works appear metallic and thin, while his current works are seen as having "a decidedly feminine character and deals with a sculptural volume that is more

Botero Botero is a surname of Italian origin, common in Colombia and along with other similar variants (Boter, Boteri, Botter, Botteri, Bottero), it originated in the Piedmont region of Italy, more specifically, in the town of Bene Vagienna, province of C ...

than

Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo, ...

." Often abstract in appearance, his works often seem robot-like in what has been described as "

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

and

nostalgic Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric word, ...

." His artworks are found in public and private permanent collections worldwide including the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

and ''

Union Square Colonnade Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''U ...

'' in San Francisco's

Union Square Park Union Square is a historic intersection and surrounding neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, located where Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Bowery, the former Bowery Road – now Park Avenue, Fourth Avenue – came together in ...

. ''Empire Towers'' was commissioned by

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

owner Carl Solway to encourage Fischer to create larger-scale sculptures. The "towers" are considered seminal works in Fischer's career, credited with triggering major commissions for the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the List of state capitols in the United States, state capitol and seat of government for the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lo ...

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...

and the

Kansas City Convention Center The Kansas City Convention Center, originally Bartle Hall Convention Center or Bartle Hall, is a major convention center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was named for Harold Roe Bartle, a prominent, two-term mayor of Kansas City in th ...

Information

In 1985 Fischer's ''Empire Towers'' was chosen, along with artworks by nine other artists, for exhibition at the art symposium

Sculpture Chicago `85 Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

References

{{IACartworks Indianapolis Art Center artworks Outdoor sculptures in Indianapolis Steel sculptures in Indiana 1985 sculptures