Smokey

John Ahearn

1981

Acrylic on plaster

Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

John Ahearn (Born 1951 in Binghamton, NY) is an American artist best known for the public sculpture he produced during the 1980s in the South Bronx, New York. Working in collaboration with Rigoberto Torres, the artist created painted life casts of his neighbors engaged in everyday activities, such as jumping rope or listening to music. Ahearn and Torres worked together with neighborhood volunteers on the casting process, attributing the final work to the artist who paints the cast. Smokey is an exemplary, representative work from the community casting workshops Ahearn held in the South Bronx during the early 1980s. This sculpture em