Documented artwork / fountain and architectural sculptural frieze
The New World
Credit as documented: Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness’s The New World links a circular fountain and sculptural frieze across the central plaza of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and Courthouse in Los Angeles. GSA dates the architectural artwork to 1991. A reclining bronze infant at the fountain’s center lifts a globe and appears to rest on mist. That child also anchors the composition’s larger theme of social renewal. Cast-concrete characters in the frieze enact a journey between Paradise and Judgement, working, carrying geometric forms and fighting along the way. The two components share rounded figures and connected themes, joining otherwise separate parts of the plaza into one commissioned artwork about freedom, truth and democracy.
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At a glance
- Year / version
- 1991
- Materials
- concrete, bronze, brass, stainless steel
- 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.
1991 artwork date; installation start not separately specified
Central plaza, Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and Courthouse, Los Angeles, California
Materials and construction
GSA lists concrete, bronze, brass and stainless steel and credits the Art in Architecture Program. Dimensions are variable, without measured extents. The fountain and frieze are two components of this 1991 Los Angeles work; they are not Otterness’s separately documented The Real World in New York.
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Sources
- art.gsa.gov ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17