Jurisprudents

2000
collaboration with Ralph Helmick
dimensions: 30’ h 30’ w 8’ d
materials: cast metal, stainless cable
site: Melvin Price Federal Courthouse, East St. Louis, IL
commissioned by: General Services Administration, Washington, D.C.

>> Recipient of the GSA National Design Honor Award for Art <<

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.