Client: Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Overview

My commission for this new Hyatt Place is a trio of virtual vanity plates on the theme of travel. We chose to make three triple-plate images. I dug into English literature and recycled various found-objects of interest, phrases that many might know. The first plate, NOTALL • HUWNDR • ARLOST, derives from J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Fellowship of the Ring.” The second, ALL • THE WORLDS • ASTAGE, comes from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” The third, TOOKTH • RDLESS • TRVLED, is built from parts of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.”

Goals

This hotel is located adjacent to a light-rail station close to Denver’s airport. It was designed to be warm and engaging with multiple comfortable spaces with tables and chairs for guests, expanding openly from the check-in desk. The curated Colorado-centric art program is central to enhancing that feeling of comfort and engagement by the variety, liveliness and wit of its well-chosen commissions.

Process

Nine Dot thought the license plates would add a combination of vernacular form, humor and thought. I worked with them, designed the words, approved the trio of trios and then created the actual art.

Additional Information

These are digital paintings. Starting with actual license plates from my large personal collection, I photograph them and put them through an extensive regime of processing to arrange color, build the words, construct the relief, shadows, and lighting. On the more aged plates, I also do extensive hand work to simulate the scratches and abrasions found on the embossed type of the original plate.