JOHN COYNE
The Forest, cast aluminum alloy, 37" x 27" x 4"

John Coyne is an ardent cast metal sculptor.  Receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and his masters at Southern Illinois, Coyne is continually drawn back to Iowa City to persist in making his ambitious works.  Using personal experiences—foreign ports of call, Iowa landscapes, and brushes with death—as inspiration, Coyne then uses his talent to manipulate metals.

"Defying the inherent inertia of metal, I transform subjective narratives into recognizable representations by capturing the essence of my own experiences and mythologizing them.  Juxtaposing sacrosanct emblems with the ways things move and change, these pieces illustrate the tenuous balance between the past and the present, between imagery and idolatry.  Borrowing from Hinduism, Tantric Buddhism, syncratic Caribbean religions, and midwestern regionalism, I create my own syntheses of cohesion out of chaos."

John's work can be seen throughout various locations in the Iowa City area, but most easily accessible are his bronze neighborhood markers in the Goosetown area as well as aluminum neighborhood markers in the Northside area. He is also an original member of the legendary Julius Schmidt's Radillac Group of cast iron and bronze sculptors.

text and image from The Chait Galleries Downtown