| Jiminez, Luis |
|
(1940 - 2006)
Place of Birth: El Paso, Texas History: “Growing up in a barrio of El Paso, Texas, Luis Jimenez learned about art by reading books, working in his father's electric and neon sign shop, and visiting museums and murals in Mexico City. When he eventually embarked on a formal study of art in the mid-'60s, Jimenez found reactions to his subject matter less than encouraging. " 'Oh my God,' people told me. 'Serious artists don't work with cowboys and Indians and little horses and things,' " he recalls, laughing. Today, the sculptor's mammoth fiberglass depictions of cowboys and Indians have won him national acclaim, including a slot in Texas Monthly's "Texas Twenty," a list of the "most impressive, intriguing, and influential Texans of 1998." One of his "little" horses, a 32-foot-tall mustang in progress, is destined for a prime spot next to the main terminal at the Denver International Airport. Jimenez wasn't content to succeed within the exclusive realm of private collectors and galleries. "I think there has always been a group of people that responded to my work, but because of the way the art world operates, they probably couldn't afford it," says Jimenez. "With the public pieces, they don't have to buy it. The works are sitting out in a public place." He worked in New York from 1966-72, when he returned home to the Southwest, he adopted the symbols of his home region: vaqueros, Indians, farmers, and rodeo queens. These remained his inspiration as he worked from his home/studio, a converted schoolhouse in Hondo, New Mexico, which he shared with his wife, Susan, and their three children. Luis Jimenez received a UT Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998. He died in 2006 of a tragic studio accident.” (Sources: Rachael Shaw Jones, Texas Alcalde magazine, November/December 1998) |