Steel layers stack into the figure of a woman here: Isabelle, by the German artist Julian Voss-Andreae, unveiled in front of the Rowan Hotel on March 29, 2018. The figure of a woman measures roughly twelve feet by twelve feet by ten feet and carries internal LED lighting, so it changes character between afternoon and evening. Its trick is structural rather than decorative: the artist builds his figures from parallel vertical layers with air between them, so the sculpture reads as solid from one angle and nearly disappears as you walk round to another.
The Los Angeles Times described the artwork as a marvel only visible from certain angles, while Arizona Foothills Magazine reported surprising views from every angle — two writers disagreeing in a way that is really the same observation. The piece sits on the footprint of the old Desert Fashion Plaza, on the corner where the newest block downtown meets its oldest street. Walk a quarter circle round it and the figure thins away to almost nothing.