Photos by Clements/Howcroft, Boston
Jurisprudents
2000
Artists: Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter
30'h 30'w 8'd
cast metal/stainless cable
Melvin Price Federal Courthouse
East St. Louis, IL
Using traditional methods, the artists sculpted twelve life-size portraits of ordinary American citizens-representing 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 over 3,000 small sculptures coalesce into two monumental heads facing each other across a skylit courthouse atrium. In creating an abstract representation of implied dialogue, this artwork honors 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.
Commissioned by the General Services Administration, Washington, D.C.
Project Team: Chris Taylor, Andrea Scofield
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