Jiménez Deredia
“The magic is born when faith, enthusiasm, and sacrifice unite.”
Jorge Jiménez Martínez (B. 1954) whose artist name is Deredia, was born on in Heredia, Costa Rica. He started sculpting in the seventies creating pieces already bearing the signs and characteristics of what would become consistent throughout his successive works: the development of organic shapes modified by their environment, the force of gravity and growth, and the influence of pre-Columbian art. In 1976 at 22 years old, a study grant took him to Italy where he settled and from there started to travel around Europe, coming into contact with the main artistic movements of the continent. (Read More)
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Deredia graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and between 1980 and 1986 he attended the Faculty of Architecture at Florence University. The perception of a globalized dimension of ‘being’ and the universe, forming the basis of his vision of life, developed and deepened thanks to a conscious return to the origins of his own country. In his work, he started to reflect the extraordinary creative influence received by observing the monumental granite spheres, produced by the pre-Columbian civilization of the Borucas. Those artifacts of mysterious primordial strength moved the sculptor towards studies of shape and material, as well as the function and symbology derived from the sphere and circle.
By taking on the artist name “Deredia” (a contraction of “de Heredia” or “originating from Heredia”), the artist’s conscious return to his origins was underlined at that time as the source of his creative and philosophical inspiration.
In 1999, the Fabbrica di San Pietro commissioned the sculptor to produce a statue of San Marcelino Champagnat, which would be placed in one of the huge scale Michelangelo niches situated along the external perimeter of the basilica’s left transept. The sculpture was inaugurated by Pope John Paul II in the year of the Grand Jubilee and with this work Deredia became the first Latin American artist to present one of his works within the center of the Catholic world: The Vatican.
Throughout his 47-year career, Deredia has created monumental works for museums, external environments and public institutions in sixteen different countries across Europe, America and Asia. He has held 50 personal exhibitions and over 100 collective exhibitions worldwide.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Important Exhibitions
2015 El Tiempo y el Espacio en la Escultura de Jiménez Deredia, Ciudad de las Ciencias y las Artes, Valencia, Spain
2012 Jiménez Deredia, la Genesi e il Simbolo: il Mito Contemporaneo, installed at Corso Vittorio Emanuele (Trapani Center); Piazza del Mercato del Pesce; archaeological sites of Segesta, Trapani/Segesta, Sicily, Italy
2011 Jiménez Deredia Sculptures Monumentales avec la Ville de La Baule, installed at Gare de La Baule – Escoublac, Parvis d’Atlantia, Place des Palmiers, Esplanade Francois André, La Baule, France
2010 Featured international artist in World’s Fair Expo 2010, Shanghai, China
2009 Deredia a Roma, city-wide exhibition installed at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Foro Romano, Colosseo, Museo Romano, Palazzo Massimo, Museo Romano Altemps, Rome, Italy
2005 La Sfera, Simbolo dell’Essere, Parco della Versiliana, Pietrasanta, Italy
1999 48th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
1996 Teatro Nacional, San José, Costa Rica
1993 Grand Palais (Decouvertes), Paris, France
1990 Modern Art Museum of Latin America, Washington, D.C., USA
1987 Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
1979 Italian-Latin American Institute, Rome, Italy
Permanent Collections
Costa Rica:
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, San José
Jardín de Esculturas del Museo de Arte Costarricense
Metropolitan Cathedral, San José
Jardines de la Casa Presidencial, San José
Jardines del Teatro Nacional, San José
Museo de Arte Costarricense
Banco Banex, San José
France:
Latin American Gardens, Porte de Champerret, Paris
Cristian Dior, Armand de Ponthaud Collection, Paris
Italy:
Foreign Ministry of International Affairs, Rome
Grand Hotel, Verona
D’Aloisio Family, Isernia
United States of America:
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida
Museum of the Americas, Washington D.C.
Latin American Medical Surgical Clinic, Houston, Texas
Vatican City:
St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City