All Ball is a wall-hung sculpture made from cut-up, used basketballs. Taking inspiration from the Hyatt Place/Hyatt House hotel’s location across the street from the Indiana Pacers’ home court, the artist inverts our typical knowledge of what a basketball looks like to use it as pure material and form. The first basketballs put into production were by AG Spalding in 1891, and the historical development of that original form has come to help create multimillion dollar sports franchises ... view more »
All Ball is a wall-hung sculpture made from cut-up, used basketballs. Taking inspiration from the Hyatt Place/Hyatt House hotel’s location across the street from the Indiana Pacers’ home court, the artist inverts our typical knowledge of what a basketball looks like to use it as pure material and form. The first basketballs put into production were by AG Spalding in 1891, and the historical development of that original form has come to help create multimillion dollar sports franchises that help shape lives and communities. The checkerboard-like pattern calls up an impression of a very different game, one more cerebral than we believe basketball to be, and plays with our impressions of what we think we know about Indiana’s most popular sport. The artwork was created as part of the hotel developer’s contribution to the City of Indianapolis’ Public Art for Neighborhoods program.
Conceptual sculptor Chris Vorhees lives and works in Indianapolis. Inspired by architecture and everyday objects, Vorhees looks for the “twist” on the familiar by breaking forms into their constituent parts and reassembling them into exciting new shapes. He is a multi-media artist and custom fabricator. A periodic collaborator with SIMPARCH artist collective with projects exhibited internationally at Deitch Projects (2001), Wexner Art Center (2001), Documenta XI (2002), Whitney Biennial (2004), Tate Modern (2005), and a USGSA permanent installation in Tornillo, TX (2014). Vorhees’s solo work has been shown at the Henry Art Gallery (2002); Bard College (2003); and the Illinois State University Art Gallery (2004). His work has also been shown in the New Center for Contemporary Art, Louisville (2007); the Herron School of Art and Design (2010): the Smart Museum of Art, U of Chicago (2010); and Sculpture Center, Cleveland (2015). He was awarded an Efroymson Fellowship Award in 2009 and a Graham Foundation Grant with Simparch (2012).
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