Bernice

John Ahearn

1981 · Painted plaster · Modern and Contemporary Art

Working in the South Bronx, in deliberate counterpoint to Manhattan’s more established art neighborhoods downtown, Ahearn often selected subjects from his neighborhood. In line with his participatory practice, the artist would collaborate with his subjects in choosing their dress and the poses in which they would be cast in plaster. Painted in robust acrylics, the colors of his "community portraits" capture the vibrancy of clothing and the diversity of skin tones of the multiethnic neighborhood in which he worked. Ahearn would often take Polaroids of his sitters as records of casting sessions, and consequently the reliefs are conditioned by the color range of the film.

Artist

John Ahearn

Date

1981

Medium

Painted plaster

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Barbara and Eugene Schwartz, 1988