Luis Alfonso Jimenez
Luis Alfonso Jimenez
1940 - 2006
Hispanic–American sculptor and printmaker. He specialized in larger-than-life, vibrantly-colored fiberglass and epoxy sculptures that celebrate humanity and reflect his Mexican–American heritage. He was also an accomplished printmaker (lithographs and etchings) and draftsman (colored-pencil drawings). As the “Godfather” of Chicano art, the artist of working-class people and mentor to numerous Hispanic artists, he played an important role in bringing Chicano sensibilities into mainstream art.
Born the son of an illegal immigrant, Jiménez grew up in El Paso, TX, where he learned to weld, wire and airbrush in his father’s neon-sign shop. After receiving a BFA in 1964 at the University of Texas at Austin, and a brief stay in Mexico City, he moved to New York City where he worked with Seymour Lipton (1903–86) and found success parodying 1960s American pop culture in his work.
In the early 1970s he returned to the Southwest (eventually dividing his time between El Paso and Hondo, NM), where he gained success and controversy as a sculptor of outdoor figures. Drawing inspiration from the social realist Mexican and Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals, he combined large scale, color and pose to create a dramatic and heroic effect in his work. Like the New Mexican santos (portrayals of saints) he admired, he celebrated and made saints of ordinary people.
In addition, believing that his work had a social purpose, he sculpted modern interpretations of Western myths, popular culture, and archetypes—works that elicit comment and dialogue wherever they appear. (The social commentary, garish colors and sensuality of his sculptures sometimes shocked viewers.) Among his signature sculptures are Barfly-Statue of Liberty (1969; Denver, CO, A. Mus.), End of the Trail (with Electric Sunset) (1971; Austin, U. TX), Howl (1986; Albuquerque, NM), Southwest Pietà (1984; Albuquerque, NM), Vaquero (1987–8; Houston, TX), Border Crossing (1989; Santa Fe, NM Mus. A.), Fiesta Dancers (1992–6; Albuquerque, U. NM) and Mustang (posthumous cast, 2008; Denver International Airport).
Jiménez achieved critical success: National Endowment for the Arts grants, numerous solo shows, a retrospective at the Albuquerque Museum (1994) and countless sculpture commissions that are displayed in public places and museums across the country. [Margaret Moore Booker. "Jiménez, Luis." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 9, 2014, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T2086989.]
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Taos Pueblo, 1906 - 1993
