John Ahearn is an American sculpture best known for his public art and street art. In 1991, he was commissioned by the 44th Police Precinct in the Bronx to create a series of sculptures. The sculptures were later relocated to Socrates Sculpture Park, where they reside today.

The sculptures, also known as the ‘South Bronx Bronzes’ prompted a debate on who gets to make public art and who it is for. Read more in Jane Kramer’s 1992 article for the New Yorker, “Whose Art Is It.”