South Bronx Bronzes Introduction

John Ahearn is a white artist from the South Bronx. He was a resident of the South Bronx for twenty two years, and was known for making casts of residents in the neighborhood. He would often create two copies of the statues, giving one of them back to the subject of the work. He was commissioned by the Percent for Art Program in 1986 to create a public sculpture in a prominently black and Latino neighborhood. In 1991, the art was finished and he installed the South Bronx Bronzes outside a police station on three pedestals. It consisted of three painted bronze castings of local residents. They were named Raymond and his pit-bull Toby, Corey with boom-box and basketball, and Daleesha, a street child. The community quickly rejected the sculptures and viewed them as politically incorrect and claimed they gave a negative view of the community using stereotypes. Protests were led against the sculptures and John Ahearn requested they be taken down just five days after they were put up in fear of being labeled a racist. The Bronzes currently reside in the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens. Since the South Bronx Bronzes, John Ahearn has continued to produce sculptures of individuals in his community. Alongside his long time collaborator, Rigoberto Torres, he has also completed a large public project in Taiwan and two large scale murals in Brazil. Much of John Ahearn’s art is now in museums or placed in neighborhoods in the South Bronx. He still resides in and works at his studio in New York City.