Who is Kevin Kresse? All about artist creating Johnny Cash's statue for US Capitol

Much acclaim is in order as artist and sculptor Kevin Kresse’s creation of Johnny Cash’s statue is all set to be made public at the US Capitol on September 24. According to a report by NME, it is the first time that a statue of a professional musician like Cash will be erected at the Capitol.

Cash was an American singer and songwriter associated with ‘The Highwaymen’ group.

Amidst all this, much whispering has been going on about the artist. For those who are not familiar with his name, Kevin Kresse is a sculptor and painter based in Little Rock, Arkansas. His work has been exhibited around Washington, DC, Memphis, and New York, among others.

Kresse received fellowships from the Arkansas Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts—Mid-America Arts Alliance. He was named the 2015 Individual Artist for Arkansas from the Governor’s Art Awards.

An Instagram post on Kevin’s official account from 2022 shows his elation at being able to complete Johnny Cash’s sculpture. As evident from his post, idols of the late singer and the civil rights activist Daisy Bates are going to be the new representatives of Arkansas in the US Capitol. Bates’s statue has already been installed in May 2024.

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Kevin Kresse wanted to sculpt both statues

When the news about installing the statues went viral, Kevin Kresse applied to sculpt both. Even though he stood out as the finalist for sculpting Bates’s statue, he was eventually commissioned for Cash’s. The sculpting was done by Kresse, while the bronze casting was done in a foundry, which took around four months. The statue has a height of eight feet.

Just like any other work, sculpting Johnny Cash’s statue was a methodical task that required rigorous research. As per a TB&P report, the sculptor worked with an impersonator of Cash. His movements helped Kevin replicate Cash’s ‘gate.’

In an interview with Kerry McCoy, he talks about the peculiarities that he had to keep in mind while sculpting the statue.

“Johnny has an extremely difficult face," he said. "Because you are taught mouth, nose, eyes, parallel and center line. All of his is slightly off. So if you, if you ... yeah his nose kicks off a little bit this way (gesturing).

"The eyes and the mouth are kind of moving at a different angle towards one and so if you do what you are supposedly supposed to do as an artist, it’s just not going to look like.”

The story that the statue resonates with is as if Cash is going back to his younger days to perform at a concert at Dyess. With his guitar hanging over his shoulder, he is clutching his jacket while thinking about his family.