SELECTED WORK

JURISPRUDENTS

2000         30'h 30'w 8'd

collaboration with Stuart Schechter
material: cast metal/stainless cable
architect: Harry Reese and Assoc., Chicago, IL
project team: Chris Taylor, Andrea Scofield
site: Melvin Price Federal Courthouse, E. St. Louis, IL
commissioned by the General Services Administration, Washington, D.C.
photographs by Clements/ Howcroft

Using traditional methods, the artists sculpted twelve life-size portraits of ordinary American citizens representing the twelve members of a jury. The heads were then laser-scanned, rapid-prototyped at small scale, cast in pewter in large quantities, finished with a hand-rubbed patina, and precisely affixed to hundreds of suspended cables.

Collectively, the 3,000+ small sculptures coalesce into two monumental heads facing each other across the skylit courthouse atrium. In creating an abstract representation of implied dialogue, this artwork addresses a legal system rooted in the voice of the people.

In its noun form the word "jurisprudent" is synonymous with "jurist". Its plural creates a homonym for the central activity of the building.

Jurisprudents was the recipient of the GSA National Design Honor Award for Art.