Gavel

“Gavel” by Andrew F. Scott is a 31 foot steel gavel and sound block located in the south reflecting pool outside the Supreme Court of Ohio. The sculpture is constructed entirely from stainless steel and it is the largest gavel in the world. “Gavel” was commissioned in 2008 by the Ohio State Bar Association for the price of $200,000. Scott's massive rendition of the symbolic tool of the judge is charged with notions about the omnipotence of the judiciary. Early renderings of the artwork appear to include the phrase “NO JUSTICE NO PEACE” inscribed along the base of the sound block. The rallying cry was first documented in 1986 at the protest against the murder of Michael Griffith, a 23 year old Trinidadian man who was run over after a white mob attacked him and his friends. The phrase is still commonly used at protests against racial injustice to this day and could have been placed on the sound block to function as a reminder to those in power of their responsibility to rule justly. Although the phrase is absent from the finished piece, the overwhelming gavel made by an African American man continues to serve as a symbolic reminder to the Ohio Supreme Court to uphold justice for all and protect society’s most vulnerable.

Andrew F. Scott is a multimedia artist and sculptor whose work falls at the intersection of digital fabrication technologies, traditional fine arts practices, and collective cultural ideals. He finds much of his inspiration from African American art and culture and views his work through the spirit of “Sankofa,” a word in the Twi language of Ghana that literally translates to "go back and get it." Metaphorically, “Sankofa” expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress. “Through synthesis, manipulation, and abstraction, [Scott] reinterpret[s] these traditional forms and ideas and bring[s] them into a modern context.” Scott’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Visit “Gavel” outside of the Supreme Court of Ohio.