John Hegarty was born in Kansas in 1938. After graduating from college in Iowa, Hegarty was drafted into the army where he worked as an illustrator and later earned his MFA from Iowa University in 1966. A film about Hegarty, which was commissioned by the Archives of American Art, Bureau of the Smithsonian, was shown at Dia Center for the Arts in 1983. That same year, he was awarded the Michigan Foundation of the Arts Award. Hegarty's work is primarily focused on hyperrealist depictions of the human figure. The artist lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.
