COLIN LANCELEY

Project Name: Quality of Mercy

Materials: Glass . dye

Dimensions: 36sqm

Description: Colin Lanceley was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and now resides in Sydney. He is a leading established international artist with extensive exhibits in the National Gallery of Australia, many international museums in the USA and across Europe and New Zealand.

"My contribution to the New County Court involves suspended coloured glass panels in a rectangular shape within a stainless steel frame, which exploits the natural light in the Public Hall (Level 1). The glass is coloured and "painted" with an abstract justice theme. My large glasswork is a representation of Justice as a radiant and triumphal presence facing into the Public Hall. Glimpses of the coloured sections can also be seen from the upper floors viewed from behind. Given the solemn mood of the mechanics of Justice, I wanted to create a transcendental image of Justice unencumbered; hence the broken chains and the bird image representing freedom. From the front, the Justice Figure rising from a stepped plinth has land imagery to the left and the sea to the right, the theme being justice over all.

The title is of course from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", well known to the Law."