Friends and Neighbors: The Art of John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres

The Lehman College Art Gallery presents FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS: The Art of John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres. The exhibition features nine painted life-size sculptures which depict people from the artists’ neighborhood. The exhibit includes Homage to the People of the Bronx: Double Dutch at Kelly Street (Walton Ave. W. 171 St.) and Back to School (Walton Ave. and W. 170 St.). The bronze work, Raymond and Toby, is also included in the show and it was the version that was supposed to be part of the sculpture park across the 44th Precinct. 

Ahearn and Torres met at Fashion Moda, an art community center, in the Bronx. The artists will make a public casting on Friday, April 23 at the gallery. The casts are made by first using a gel to coat the model’s skin to prevent the plaster from adhering. The artists then place straws in the model’s nostrils and surgical bandages to the face and body. After twenty minutes, the plaster hardens, and the mold is removed. The final cast is made with fiberglass and plaster before the sculpting and refinements. The busts are painted using Polaroid photographs of the model as reference.