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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA new reminder of truth hangs permanently in the Indiana Court of Appeals office, after Broad Ripple artist Biagio Azzarelli donated his contemporary sculpture entitled “The Truth” to the appellate court on Wednesday.
Accompanied by COA Judge John Baker and Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik, Azzarelli said he’s grateful that his sculpture is in the hands of the appellate court.
Artist Biagio Azzarelli is shown with the sculpture he donated to the Indiana Court of Appeals. (IL photo/Katie Stancombe)“It’s the right place for it,” Azzarelli said as the sculpture was unveiled in its new home in the lobby of the COA offices in the PNC Center in Indianapolis. “I think this is a very important court in the state. You have to work harder to even establish the truth, and I think that’s what this should go towards.”
Consisting of two hanging discs, the sculpture tackles the concept of truth. Each disc is split in two — half of each is sold white or black, representing absolute truth and falsehood, respectively.
The other halves are composed of different-sized dots, suggesting that truth and falsehood can be relative. As the discs overlap, Azzarelli described, the intersection creates a gray area in which fragments of truth and falsehood combine.
“The molecules are in constant movement in that gray area, so the truth is never really static in the gray area,” Azzarelli said. “For me, truth is really the most important characteristic of a person and a society. And that’s why I decided to do this. I think the gray is where most of the time we work in, but there are actual truths and there are lies too.”
Azzarelli also noted that the discs move freely, making the gray area dynamic, constantly changing at the whim of will or fading memory.
“People move from left to right or right to left, and I think the judges are the ones that have to make the decisions about what is true and what is not true,” he said.
The piece was previously jury selected for the 91st Annual Exhibition in 2015, sponsored by the Hoosier Salon, a nonprofit artist-service organization.
Baker and Vaidik gave their gratitude for the donation, and said the piece was thought-provoking and exquisite.
“We very much appreciate this,” Baker said. “I think it came across very well.”
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