Luis Jiménez (sculptor)

Luis A. Jiménez Jr.
Born	July 30, 1945
Died	June 13, 2006 (aged 65)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Texas
Known for	fiberglass sculpture, prints

Luis Jimenez or Luis Jiménez (July 30, 1940 – June 13, 2006) was an American sculptor of Mexican descent.^[1] He was born in El Paso, Texas and died in New Mexico. He studied art and architecture at the University of Texas in Austin and El Paso, earning a bachelor's degree in 1964. He became an accomplished artist and taught art at the University of Arizona and later the University of Houston.

Jiménez was known for his large polychromed fiberglass sculptures usually of Southwestern and Hispanic themes. His works were often controversial and eminently recognizable because of their themes and the bright, colorful undulating surfaces that Jiménez employed. He was influenced by the murals of José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. Working in his father's shop, making neon signs, as well as lowrider car culture, featuring brightly painted fiberglass bodywork, were also artistic influences.^[2] In 1993, he was a recipient of the New Mexico Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts.^[3] In 1998 he received a Distinguished Alumni award from the University of Texas in recognition of his artwork.

He was killed in his studio in Hondo, NM on June 13, 2006, when a large section of Blue Mustang, intended for Denver International Airport, fell on him and severed an artery in his leg. The sculpture was based on the eight-foot-high sculpture Mesteño (Mustang), on display at the University of Oklahoma.^[4]

Jiménez's daughter Elisa is a multimedia artist and fashion designer and was a contestant on Season 4 of Bravo's reality television series Project Runway.^[5]

Works

• Man on Fire, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, 1969
• Vaquero, Moody Park, Houston, Texas, 1980
• Sodbuster, Formerly of NP Park, Fargo, North Dakota, 1983 After a much needed restoration Sodbuster has found a new home at Wichita State university as part of the Ulrich Museum of art outdoor sculpture collection.
• Southwest Pieta, Longfellow Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1983 (declared a national treasure by President Bill Clinton in 1999).
• Border Crossing, 10½ feet tall, Santa Fe, New Mexico^[6] and Los Angeles, California, 1989.
• Steelworker, 145½" x 71 x 37½ inches, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, 1990.
• Fiesta Jarabe, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
• Cleveland Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Located at the corners of Erieside Ave. and Lerner Way, Cleveland, OH, 2007.
• Blue Mustang, Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado, 2008.

Collections

• Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Arizona State University, Nelson Fine Arts Center Tempe, Arizona
• Art Museum of Southeast Texas Beaumont, Texas
• Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas
• Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin
• El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas
• Iowa State University, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Ames, Iowa
• Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
• Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
• McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada
• New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota
• Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, New Mexico
• Saint Louis University, St. Louis University Museum of Art, Saint Louis, Missouri
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
• University of Arizona, Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
• University of Kansas, Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas
• University of Oklahoma, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma
• University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• University of Texas at El Paso, Library, El Paso, Texas
• University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
• Utah Valley University, Woodbury Art Museum Orem, Utah
• Valley National Bank of Arizona, Fine Arts Department, Phoenix, Arizona
• Wichita State University, Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas
• The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas
• Numerous private collections
• Mcnay Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
• The Ellen Noël Art Museum, Odessa, Texas

See also

• History of the Mexican-Americans in Texas

References

1. http://books.google.com/books?id=kDFMR0dlrrkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Famous+latinos%22#PPT190,M1
2. Questions and Answers about Luis Jimenez' Southwestern Pieta - Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University, 2001
3. "The Award Winners". New Mexico Museum of Art. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
4. "Luis Jiménez, Mesteño, 1997". Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
5. "Project Runway Official Biography". Bravo. Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
6. Border Crossing. New Mexico Museum of Art http://www.nmartmuseum.org/site/about/sculpture/west-sculpture-garden/border-crossing.html. Retrieved 13 January 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Landis, Moore, et al., "Man on Fire, Luis Jiménez, El Hombre en Llamas, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1994
• Storey, Natalie, Artist Dies in Studio Accident, The Santa Fe New Mexican, June 14, 2006, page 1

External links

• Stewart, Jocelyn Y. "Luis Jiménez Jr., 65; Artist Whose Sculptures Are on Public Display Nationwide," Los Angeles Times, Thursday, June 15, 2006.
• Smithsonian American Art Museum biography
• From the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Image of Mesteño, smaller version of the sculpture that killed him.
• Johnson, Kirk. "And Behold a Big Blue Horse? Many in Denver Just Say Neigh," The New York Times, Monday, March 2, 2009.