Skip to main content
Customizable
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete
Satisfaction Guarantee
Customize this piece
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete
+2
Harry Above the Crowd | Public Sculptures by John Randall Nelson | Tempe City Hall in Tempe. Item made of steel with concrete

Created and Sold by John Randall Nelson

John Randall Nelson

Harry Above the Crowd - Public Sculptures

Featured In Tempe City Hall, Tempe, AZ

$ On Inquiry

Harry Above the Crowd. Steel, ceramic tile, and concrete, 35’ x 14’ x14’. Located at City Hall. Tempe, AZ. Fabricated in collaboration with Michael Levine and R.J Ruff and Co, 1998.


Harry Above the Crowd, celebrates Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell. The base of the sculpture uses printed tiles to create a timeline highlighting Mitchell’s carreer. Transferring fragments of history (news articles, budgets, blue prints, etc.) onto tiles and placing them chronologically, creates a winding path that reflects Tempe's history.


“A soaring, 35-foot-tall depiction of a beloved city councilman, 1970-78, and mayor, 1978-1994, as a stilt walker. Creator John Randall Nelson intended the exaggerated dimensions of “Harry Above the Crowd” to represent Harry Mitchell’s “heightened sense of potential, performance and accomplishment.” Coincidentally, live stilt walkers regularly stroll the city’s Mill Avenue during spring and fall Tempe Festival of the Arts.” Lisa Polacheck, Where Magazine, 2015

Item Harry Above the Crowd
Have more questions about this item?
John Randall Nelson
Meet the Creator
Wescover creator since 2019
I think the ambiguous is more interesting, more engaging. Because there is always something more to discover it reveals itself more slowly and it has greater longevity.”

John Randall Nelson lives and works in Tempe, Arizona. An MFA graduate of Arizona State University’s Herberger School of Fine Arts, his folk art inspired works have been exhibited and collected both nationally and abroad. A sculptor as well as a painter, he has completed commissions for clients as diverse as the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Postal Service and the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona.

“Over the years I've heard Nelson's work described as Outsider Art, Pop, and Primitive. Maybe it's all of the above. What I do know is John has perfected the combination of playful and poignant. Using a diverse mix of materials in both painting and sculpture, he's developed a unique language over the years with the use of societal, political ancedotes and familiar cultural icons. Nelson has created a landscape all his own, both introspective and whimsical, much appreciated qualities, in this ever-changing moment in time.”
Covington Jordan, Director, Gebert Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.