John Raymond Henry


John Raymond Henry is an internationally renowned sculptor. Since 1971, Henry has produced many monumental and large-scaled works of art for museums, cities and public institutions across the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has created some of the largest contemporary metal sculpture in the United States, and his sculpture is designed, engineered, fabricated, and erected by his own studio in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Henry's sculpture has been described as huge welded steel drawings. He arranges linear and rectilinear elements that appear to defy gravity and float. Many suggest a moment of arrested motion where flying or tumbling elements are frozen. There is a simple elegance and an unexpected sense of immediacy and lightness in his work.

Henry was a founding member of ConStruct, an artist-owned gallery that promoted and organized large-scale sculpture exhibitions throughout the United States. Other founding members include Mark di Suvero, Kenneth Snelson, Lyman Kipp, and Charles Ginnever. Henry continues to curate exhibitions in the United States and in Europe, drawing on his nationally recognized expertise regarding sculptors and their work. He was also Chairman Emeritus of the International Sculpture Center and on the board of YoungArts in Miami for 25+ years.

Education/Distinctions

He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, USA in 1943.
He received his BFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1969.
From 1978 through 1980 he was President/Chairman of ConStruct.
He received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from University of Kentucky in 1996.
From 2001 through 2002 he was Chairman of the International Sculpture Center.

Recognition

In 2005 a block of Cermak Road in Chicago was honorarily named John Henry Way by the City of Chicago.

Monumental Sculptures and Public Works

United States

District of Columbia