Documented artwork / multi-part rooftop sculpture installation
Law of Nature
Credit as documented: Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness’s Law of Nature uses bronze animals and human figures to turn the roof terrace of Portland’s Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse into a series of miniature dramas. The 1997 work replaced an earlier water feature with an assemblage of computers, lawyers, beavers, desks and chairs. On the west side, beavers dismantle a tree of knowledge, process it into timber and reconstruct it. Another group stages a courtroom: an owl presides as judge, a cat faces trial, and a dog serves as attorney. Four animal jurors occupy a jury box beside a human figure. These linked scenes bring the courthouse’s legal setting into an allegorical landscape of labor, judgment and reconstruction.
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At a glance
- Year / version
- 1997
- Materials
- bronze
- Documented setting
- unknown
- Dimensions
- Not documented
- Dimensions apply to
- Not documented
- Availability
- Unconfirmed
Places & versions
Installation history
Historical presentations. A past installation does not establish the current location or suitability for a new site.
1997 artwork date; installation start not separately specified
Roof terrace, Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, Portland, Oregon
Materials and construction
GSA credits the Art in Architecture Program and lists bronze as the medium. Its dimensions field says only varying, so no overall measurement is asserted. The agency’s fountain-of-technology description does not establish a functioning hydraulic system or present water operation.
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Sources
- art.gsa.gov ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17