John Raymond Henry (born 1943) 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 (90 to 100 feet (27 to 30 m) high) 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
1943 Born in Lexington, Kentucky, USA 1969 BFA - School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1978-1980 - President/Chairman of ConStruct 1996 Honorary Doctor of Arts - University of Kentucky 2001-2 Chairman - International Sculpture Center 2003 Kentucky Governor's National Award 2004 Mayor’s Award of Distinction in the Arts - City of Chattanooga 2005 A block of Cermak Road in Chicago honorarily named John Henry Way by the City of Chicago
District of Columbia
Shafts, 1974, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Sloping Shafts, 1974, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
Three Bolts, 1974, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
Florida
Alachua, 1987, Marston Science Library, Computer Science and Engineering Building, University of Florida, Gainesville
Blue Storm, 1993, The Sculpture Park at Florida International University, Miami
Bonefish, 1988, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Art School Sculpture Garden, Boca Raton
Hudson, 1986, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida
Journey To The Mountain Shire, 1989, Engineering Complex, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee
