Brian McCutcheon makes the art you see in everyday life

It’s highly improbable that an Indianapolis resident hasn’t seen at least one sculpture fabricated in the shop of Brian McCutcheon.

A massive example is “May/September,” a 12,000-square-foot installation of seemingly shape-shifting panels on the southern exterior of Eskenazi Health’s parking garage.

There’s mystery in “Team Building (Align),” two 30-foot aluminum rings suspended in midair at Newfields’ Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. At noon on each summer solstice, the shadows of the two rings merge to make a single shape.

A thoughtful example is “Monument,” a free lending library inspired by Greek architecture that’s 80 feet long and 14 feet high. “Monument” debuted on Monument Circle in 2015, and it now resides on the grounds of the Central Library.

And “NDY” sculptures are local icons, inviting people to advertise the city by standing as the “I” in “Indy” while posing for photos.

McCutcheon, a Michigan native who moved to Indianapolis in 2005, said public art can make a positive difference for viewers and communities.

“Public art is free and accessible to everyone,” he said. “There’s no barrier. It can provide a placemaking opportunity. It can disrupt or enhance or beautify a neighborhood. In the past 15 years or so, folks who are involved in development have realized the economic impact of public art and the importance for life quality in the communities they build.”

McCutcheon is the co-founder of Ignition Arts LLC, an Indianapolis shop that produces about $3.5 million of work each year. About 80% of that output is focused on public art. McCutcheon frequently fabricates the designs of other artists, as in the case of “May/September” by Los Angeles artist Rob Ley and “(Team Building) Align” by New York’s Andrew Bordin and Adam Ames.

The “NDY” sculptures replicate part of the Visit Indy logo.

McCutcheon also ushers his own designs from idea to existence. He’s the artist behind “Monument,” which made 2024’s list of “Top 100 Public Sculptures” selected by online art community CodaWorx.

His latest sculpture, “65/70 Riff,” was unveiled this month at the Stutz, 1060 N. Capitol Ave.

The work that mimics overhead interstate signage commemorates the automotive history of Indianapolis while also paying tribute to the resilience of neighborhoods disrupted by the construction of I-65 and I-70 during the 1960s and ’70s.

The Stutz complex originally served as a factory for automobile engineer and designer Harry Stutz, who built luxury cars there from 1914 until the Great Depression. Although the nearby Indiana Avenue neighborhood once thrived as a home to Black residents and Black-owned businesses, interstate construction displaced more than 15,000 people.

McCutcheon said the sculpture’s context is the revitalized Stutz, which is home to restaurants and retail shops after a 2023 makeover, and what was lost when urban renewal gutted the Indiana Avenue neighborhood.

The sculpture is “a nod to the automotive history of the city,” McCutcheon said, as well as to infrastructure projects that “caused the disruption of a lot of underserved and underrecognized folks.”

For “65/70 Riff,” McCutcheon collaborated with Julian Jamaal Jones, an innovative quilt artist from Indianapolis who’s building a national reputation through gallery exhibitions.

The abstract qualities of Jones’ work complemented McCutcheon’s concrete style that has incorporated race cars, astronauts and road construction in the past, McCutcheon said.

The artists are alumni of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit. McCutcheon earned his graduate degree in 1995, while Lawrence Central High School graduate Jones earned his graduate degree in 2022.

Jones had not worked on a public installation before “65/70 Riff.”

“I learned a lot about working within a budget, timelines and having to communicate with so many people,” Jones said. “It was more than just us. We communicated with the Stutz and the employees there to adjust things.”

McCutcheon arranged the visual combination of signs in the sculpture, which includes one component facing Capitol Avenue and two along a wall in Makers Alley Courtyard. Jones added color and free-flowing gestural lines—sometimes resembling the tread of a car tire.

“I’ve always loved color and been drawn to color,” Jones said. “I think it definitely parallels my personality of wanting to be seen or be recognized as an artist.”

“65/70 Riff” was financed through the city’s Public Art for Neighborhoods ordinance. For real estate developers who receive tax-increment financing, the “percent for art” program requires that funds are set aside for public art. The amount is equivalent to 1% of the TIF incentive.

SomeraRoad, the New York-based company that redeveloped the Stutz, was required to spend $117,000 on the Makers Alley sculpture project. The final tally was $144,000, including a cash contribution of $6,000 to the Public Art for Neighborhoods fund that facilitates displays of art in underserved areas.

Postcard moments

April 2025 will mark the 10th anniversary of the “NDY” sculptures, a photo-op attraction described by Chris Gahl, Visit Indy’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, as “a time-tested visual element, synonymous with our city.”

Initially, the sculptures were commissioned by Visit Indy to facilitate postcard moments for attendees of 2015’s NCAA men’s basketball Final Four games. An unexpected opportunity to express civic pride arrived when the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was viewed as giving permission to businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ Hoosiers.

A decade later, the sculptures made of steel, aluminum and paint continue to promote Indianapolis. Gahl credits McCutcheon for making durable “NDY” sculptures.

“It needed to be moved relatively easily and still get beat up by the weather and rain and elements,” Gahl said. “The integrity of the actual structure is and was important. That is the symbol of our city. ‘Indy’ is our organic, authentic nickname, and it’s the Visit Indy brand. We didn’t want it crumbling or faltering.”

McCutcheon said a “heavyweight” version of the sculpture weighs more than 1,300 pounds. Four are available to be placed at photogenic spots in the city. One “middleweight” version can be moved by two people and a pickup truck, McCutcheon said. And one “lightweight” version resides full time inside the Indiana Convention Center.

“We took the ones that sit outside 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a pretty rigorous engineering process,” he said. “They have a substantial sort of inner structure to hold up to the kind of abuse they get.”

Gahl said Visit Indy has fielded more than 100 requests from cities, states, tourism offices, and hotel and restaurant brands seeking info on the maker of the “NDY” sculptures.

“It’s fun to refer Brian and the Ignition Arts crew when people reach out,” Gahl said.

Dream factory

McCutcheon co-founded Ignition Arts with Tasker Day, the company’s COO, in 2016. The duo left an earlier company co-founded by McCutcheon, Indianapolis Fabrications, to establish Ignition Arts.

About a dozen full-time Ignition Arts employees work at 3171 Kirkbride Way, an 18,000-square-foot former laundry building near Tibbs Avenue and West Washington Street on the campus of Central State Hospital. Indiana’s first hospital for the mentally ill was founded in 1848 and closed in 1994.

Ignition Arts’ neighbors include another fabrication firm, Project One Studio, which placed multiple sculptures on Richard G. Lugar Plaza at the City-County Building, and People for Urban Progress, the nonprofit that upcycles discarded materials into purses and other accessories.

McCutcheon said it’s not difficult to source material for projects.

“Indianapolis is the racing capital of the world,” he said. “There are lots of resources for fabrication in the city. If it’s not something we can do ourselves, there’s always somebody in our orbit who can. And because it’s public art, every project is unique. One day it’s metal, the next day it’s wood, and the next day it’s composites.”

Day said the majority of Ignition’s installations happen outside of Indiana, with cities such as Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Philadelphia; and Denver serving as repeat customers.

“People in our industry—the artists, the designers and architects—either know Brian or they know somebody who knows Brian,” Day said.

Competitive edge

McCutcheon, 58, said his fabrication career gained momentum when East Coast artists Bordin and Ames sought assistance for their “Team Building (Align)” installation at Newfields in 2010. The sculpture’s rings are suspended from telephone poles and trees.

In 2011, McCutcheon presented a solo exhibition of his own artwork at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.

He said Indianapolis is playing catch-up in the realm of public art.

“I work in so many communities across the United States that have vigorous public art programs,” McCutcheon said. “I’d love to see more of that happening here. It really comes down to real budgets for projects of scale.”

Jones, the artist who collaborated with McCutcheon on “65/70 Riff,” said he would like to work on a sculptural piece in the Castleton neighborhood where he grew up. In 2025, he will exhibit his quilt artwork at museums spanning the country, from New York City to Washington state.

Looking back at his experience as a student at Cranbrook, Jones said Detroit offers an example of a city that celebrates public art.

“I feel like it’s always a conversation of, ‘What can elevate the Indianapolis art scene?’” Jones said. “When you go to cities like Detroit, you see public installations, and you see murals. The art vibe is a lot different than in Indianapolis. I think [more public art] could be a way to uplift Indianapolis and give it a new look.”

Earlier this year, Newfields’ Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park added the Hawryluk Sculpture Green and works by Mark Dion & Dana Sherwood, Heather Hart and Indianapolis-based artist Anila Quayyum Agha.

In October, a water-themed sculpture by Chinese artist Zheng Lu was announced for the future headquarters of Elanco Animal Health Inc. west of the White River and south of the Indianapolis Zoo.

In August, the Landmark Columbus Foundation announced an Indianapolis-based initiative known as Monumental Gestures. Featuring former IMA curator Sarah Urist Green in the role of artistic director, Monumental Gestures aspires to “transform public spaces through ambitious art experiences.”

Partnered with Visit Indy and the Capital Improvement Board, Monumental Gestures is scouting sites along the White River between 16 Tech and the future Henry Street Bridge for possible locations for significant works, Gahl said.

“Art and architecture are pieces of the city’s brand that are routinely recognized by visitors coming in for business or pleasure,” Gahl said. “When we study other major cities that we compete with for conventions and events, art and architecture are elements that help drive a city’s brand to help showcase the fact that culture is alive and that artists are able to take shape in your city.”•