‘During Lockdown No. 1 in Spring 2020, with all live performances with my band John cancelled as a result of the pandemic, I began to interview a series of housebound musicians through Instagram from the desk in my childhood home, where I first began my journey in creative pursuits. Having been forced to respond quickly to the altered circumstances, I similarly quickly constructed a basic stand for my phone in order to conduct these interviews - a crude collection of ‘close to hand’ objects that were selected to offer a secondary function, aside from their usual: ink cartridges, a post it note holder, a pile of CDs etc. The piece can be considered as both a sculpture and a desktop phone holder that could also be used for calls/interviews.’

‘By unifying the material in bronze, the object is abstracted, appearing somewhere between a miniature architectural model and an unknown trophy. Its title references the advertising use of the term 'the hero', an image or object used to sell. In my case, this unassuming assemblage becomes a hero.’

John Henry Newton is an artist and musician living and working in Crystal Palace, South London. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art’s Critical Practice Masters Programme in 2019, Newton - as one half of the band JOHN - released their second album ‘Out Here on the Fringes’ on their own label Pets Care Records. The album was named in the Top 100 Albums of 2019 by influential record store Rough Trade and made its way into the Top 40 of the UK vinyl chart. He has also participated in exhibitions at MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK and Centre Pompidou, Paris.

John Henry Newton was selected by Open Call.

JOHN HENRY NEWTON

‘HERO’

Bronze

(HWD)

Lockdown N.1 - 2020

Edition of 10

To order a bronze edition of this work, please email info@londonbronzeeditions.com