LexArts

About the Artwork

Surface Reflections, by Bill Fontana, is a sound sculpture that integrates several elements unique to downtown Lexington. 

The artwork brings the hidden and live sounds of the Town Branch to the surface of downtown Lexington.  The site is the landscaped passageway between the Financial Center Tower and its adjacent parking garage.  The moving water sounds of the Town Branch are played from loudspeakers on the façade of the parking garage pointed towards the Financial Center.  Sounds reflecting off of the glass façade have a spatially interactive sonic presence as visitors approach this site from different angles.  In the passageway itself, the sound has a sensuous and tranquil presence.

The Old Courthouse has the most historic chime in Lexington, which tolls every hour.  Marking the passage of time with sound is suggestive of a flow analogous to a river or stream.  A live microphone placed in the clock room wirelessly transmits to the sound sculpture on the parking garage across the street.  The bell’s sounds pass through a digital matrix of cascading delays that expand the sound and flow out of the eight-channel loudspeaker system with the same compositional structure as the sounds from Town Branch.

The video installation (temporary) explores the reflected image of the Old Courthouse on the glass façade of the Financial Center.  The grid of square glass panels on the façade are each slightly out of alignment with each other, causing the reflected image to appear deformed, as if it were reflected in water.  A surveillance camera installed on the parking garage and mounted on a pan-tilt head projects a live image onto exterior-facing windows on the Financial Center Tower, facing the parking structure. 

Three professional muralists were recently selected to realize three murals; each mural will reveal a different aspect of Lexington’s history and special character. 

This latest crop of murals will reveal how each neighborhood or community within Lexington has its own special story to tell. These muralists were selected because of their ability to create images that not only reflect the past, they are links to the physical and social context in which they reside – they create a sense of place.

“LexArts is able to grow the Lexington Mural Project,” stated Jim Clark, LexArts’ President & CEO, “because of the generosity and civic pride of three business-owners who wanted to contribute to the beautification of Lexington.” 

Esteban Camacho Steffensen - Portland, OR was selected for the Whitaker Bank Ballpark, home to the Lexington Legends.

Jeff Schaller - Downingtown, PA was selected for the Saul Good in Hamburg.

Char Downs - Paducah, KY was selected for the Hurst Furniture site at the corner of Elm Tree Lane and Short Street.

Click here for a look at the Whitaker Bank Ballpark mural in progress by artist Esteban Camacho Steffensen.