In a project jointly developed by FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art and the Putnam Collection of Case Western Reserve University, Chicago-based artist Tony Tasset will discuss his motivations and ideas for the design of his unique project, Judy’s Hand Pavilion, placed on Toby’s Plaza at Case Western Reserve. Tasset’s commissioned sculpture will double as a dramatic public shelter and gathering spot in the 34,000-square-foot plaza, and will animate this crossroads as a site of continued programming during the FRONT Triennial. The oversized sculpture serves several functions at once–as an an architectural pavilion, a place making marker and a work of art–raising a simple gesture to a civic monument and underscoring art’s potential to create new viewpoints in the urban fabric.

Judy’s Hand Pavilion is a writ large representation of the hand of the artist’s wife, who is a celebrated contemporary abstract painter. Indulging in the pleasures of verisimilitude, scale, and a lustrous finish, the work critically examines the artistic traditions of appropriation, pathos, and pleasure. Brightly colored, richly narrative, playful yet satirical, the artist is best known for his large-scale sculptures that draw from the visual language of American roadside advertising.

The project is co-Sponsored by Department of Art History and Art, KSL Library, Baker Nord-Center for the Humanities and Putnam Collection at Case Western Reserve University.

Reception to follow the artist presentation.