These were the hotels I mentioned that were done by Tom Oliver. From top left to right: The Y, The Mummy, Dragonslayer, Dr. Cyclops (The hotel's name in the picture is mayfair ), The Conqueror and Poltergeist.
I eventually, figured out that the answer was right in front of me. The names of the hotel were the key. Each hotel had a name that connected to the title of the portrait. For instance, Hotel name in DragonSlayer was St. George. St. George was known to have killed a dragon. If you look at the sign, it sort of look like a spikes coming out the back of a dragon. The windows could be scales. The building itself is arched. The Conqueror’s hotel name was Alexandria. It references Alexander the great who either built or conqueror Alexandria (I forget which). I’m assuming that he built it because the design of the building looks brand new. This made the art more exciting because the art itself was a slight puzzle. It gave the art a sense of history, instead of looking like random hotels. I think this works out nicely because there is a conscious aesthetic interaction with the art, instead of an emotional aesthetic interaction with the art. It also made me realize the artist must have a huge knowledge base to come up with the names. In terms of "what works," I think this was at the top of the list because there more than an aesthetic interaction going on.
Very keen observation, Engelbert. I was looking at this series of paintings for a while and couldn't decipher the names. Your point that there's more than an aesthetic aspect playing a role in this series definitely makes sense. The different cryptic names causes the viewer to be intrigued by these paintings for more than the artistic appeal. Furthermore, it ties the paintings together even tighter. Nice catch!
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