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Beacon by Lisa Scheer
Photo Credit© David Sundberg/Esto
Beacon
Photo Credit© David Sundberg/Esto

Beacon

Artist
Year2005
Classification sculpture
Medium bronze and granite
Dimensionseach bronze: 16 x 3 x 2.5 ft. (487.7 x 91.4 x 76.2 cm)
each pylon: 10 x 2 x 2 ft. (304.8 x 61 x 61 cm)
Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location
  • Standing twenty-four feet tall, Lisa Scheer's twin sculptures have been carefully crafted to physically and symbolically mark the entrance to the courthouse.  The cast bronze sculptures, fourteen feet high and sitting on ten-foot granite pylons, are identical but have been rotated 180 degrees from each other so they never look the same from a particular view.  Scheer has also designed lighting so that the works will be dramatically illuminated at night.




    Scheer's works of art are often large in scale and abstract, yet infused with suggestions of imagery and narrative.  Here, at the courthouse in Brooklyn, the abstract works invoke flames floating upward--a torch to illuminate, enlighten, or guide visitors to the courthouse.  The sculptures also bring to mind the symbolism of the torch of the Statue of Liberty, an emblem for both the state of New York and for American ideals.  Through this symbolism, the artist envisioned a beacon of freedom and an awakening of the spirit, an ideal signifier for the courthouse.