John Ahearn
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John Ahearn (born 1951) is an American sculptor. He is best known for the
public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
and
street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...
he made in
South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...
in the 1980s.


Life and art

Ahearn grew up in
Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...
, with his twin brother
Charlie Ahearn Charlie Ahearn (born 1951) is an American film maker living in New York City. Although predominantly involved in film and video art production, he is also known for his work as an author, freelance writer, member of Colab, and radio host. He is ma ...
, who is a
film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
. John went to
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
where he discovered art. After trying painting, he started making life casts in 1979 while with
Colab Colab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. History Colab members came together as a collective in ...
, a
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
artists’ collective. He made some live life casts at ''
The Times Square Show ''The Times Square Show'' was an influential collaborative, self-curated, and self-generated art exhibition held by New York artists' group Colab (aka Collaborative Projects, Inc) in Times Square in a shuttered massage parlor at 201 W. 41st and ...
'' in 1980. In the 1980s, while he participated in
art world The art world comprises everyone involved in producing, commissioning, presenting, preserving, promoting, chronicling, criticizing, buying and selling fine art. It is recognized that there are many art worlds, defined either by location or alt ...
venues like Brooke Alexander Gallery and
Colab Colab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. History Colab members came together as a collective in ...
, he also focused his art and life on
The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
after going to the
South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...
and working on the sidewalk in front of Fashion Moda, casting whoever volunteered. He made two copies of every cast: one for himself and the other for the sitter/subject. Ahearn has regularly worked with
Rigoberto Torres Rigoberto Torres (born 1960) is a sculptor who was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and worked in New York City, before moving to Florida where he currently lives and works. Torres began working in a factory where religious figures were cast, produc ...
. Torres first assisted Ahearn and then became his equal collaborator. After a decade of intense cooperation, they have been occasionally working together and sometimes alone. Between 1981 and 1985, Ahearn, together with Torres, created four sculptural murals for the sides of tenement buildings: ''We Are Family'', ''Life on Dawson Street'', ''Double Dutch'', and ''Back to School''. They depict everyday life in the neighborhood. Ahearn and Torres's collaborations are included in museum collections across the United States. For instance, the artwork ''Double Dutch (1981/2010),'' previously cited, is featured in the holdings of
Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...
, Florida. Ahearn's 1991 survey of portraits of ordinary people was called ''South Bronx Hall of Fame''. In 2017, his recent casts were installed on walls on the
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...
. He is represented by Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York City.


Public Art


The Bronx

John and Rigoberto have sculpture installed on the exterior walls of buildings throughout The Bronx. * "Double Dutch," 1981-2 is located on Kelly Street and Intervale Ave. * "Life on Dawson St.," 1981–82 on Longwood Ave and Dawson St. * "We Are Family" is on Southern Blvd. facing 156th St. * There are also other casts installed outside The POINT Community Development Corporation at 940 Garrison Ave.


The South Bronx bronzes

In 1989, Ahearn received the commission to make sculptures for the 44th Police Precinct in Bronx. He thought of
Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (literally "Promenade of La Reforma, the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Maximilian of Mexico, Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig d ...
, but instead of heroes, he decided to immortalize people he knew. Ahearn made bronze statues of three black people from his South Bronx neighborhood: Raymond and his pit bull, Daleesha and her roller skates, and Corey and his boom box and basketball. The statues were installed in 1991. Faced with protests from black bureaucrats on one hand and black neighbors on the other, who believed that the subjects did not adequately represent the community, Ahearn removed the statues five days after their installation. The South Bronx bronzes inspired
Jane Kramer Jane Kramer (born August 7, 1938) is an American journalist. She began her writing career at the ''Village Voice'', moving to ''The New Yorker'' in 1964, where she remains a staff writer. Her books ''Allen Ginsberg in America'' (1969) and ''Honor t ...
to write a long essay in ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' about Ahearn and others involved in the controversy, about art, race and society, which she expanded into a book, ''Whose Art Is It?'', in 1994. The bronzes now stand in the Socrates Sculpture Park in
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
.


See also

* '' The Rodriguez Twins''


References


External links


John Ahearn Website

Ahearn's works at The Broad

John Ahearn at Alexander and Bonin Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahearn, John Living people 1951 births Sculptors from New York City American street artists 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists Sculptors from New York (state) American male sculptors Artists from Binghamton, New York Cornell University alumni American twins