By Michael Morain
It’s been a busy summer for Yorame Mevorach. The local artist and self-described “visual composer” who goes by Oyoram designed the glowing displays at Tiffany’s new flagship store in Tokyo, the digital scenery for a Des Moines Metro Opera production and, just this past week, a giant LED clock on the west end of downtown.
The animated clock, called “TimePiece,” shines from the north wall of the Fitch Building, at 304 15th Street, and is best seen from the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. It keeps real time and transforms at the top of each hour, when its face breaks up, its hands fall off, and the whole thing seems to disintegrate.
“It’s like a handkerchief being eaten by a robot,” Oyoram said. “Each hour is broken and scratched and swallowed up by this robot, and then it gives birth to the new hour.”
He devised an algorithm for a dozen different digital faces — mosaics of colored glass and gemstones — that appear in a random order.
“It shows that each hour is something so precious, and when it’s gone, that’s it,” he said. “You don’t have it back.”
The Israeli-born, French-trained artist (pictured) married a Grinnell College professor and moved to Des Moines in 2016. On the outside of his home studio next to Hoyt Sherman Place, glowing exterior LED screens contrast with the rest of the couple’s 1883 house.
From Oyoram’s studios here and in Paris, he creates digital “moving frescoes” for landmark stores for Sony, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Louis Vuitton — and now, a former soap and shampoo factory here in Des Moines.
When local leaders from Operation Downtown and the Greater Des Moines Partnership approached him about a project at the Fitch Building, he knew exactly where it was. “I see this wall, this white canvas, every day,” he said. “I thought we could absolutely put a light painting on it.”
The project received funding from Operation Downtown, as well as Bravo Greater Des Moines,, the MidAmerican Energy Foundation, Prairie Meadows and Downtown DSM, Inc., plus in-kind support from Substance Architecture and Christensen Development.
“This is more than a public art piece, it’s a reflection of the creative energy that defines our region,” Renae Mauk, the Partnership’s vice president of downtown development, said in a post on the group’s website. “Partnering with an artist whose work spans the globe inspires new possibilities for public art in Des Moines.”
Now that “TimePiece” is up and running, Oyoram is tinkering with a few details, including its brightness and the hours it will turn on and off. (Surely, it’ll shine during breakfast at Tiffany’s in Tokyo). In the future, he may program some fresh designs to suit holidays or local events.
It’s all about creating “moments of visual surprise,” he said. “It’s a joyful piece of art.”
