Andrew Huber
Head of Department
Lot 33W
JORGE JIMÉNEZ DEREDIA(B. 1954)Sí mismo
19 May 2022, 17:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$164,175 inc. premium
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Randy Reynolds
Specialist, Head of Sale
JORGE JIMÉNEZ DEREDIA (B. 1954)
Sí mismo
incised with artist's signature and numbered 1/6
bronze
41 1/2 by 70 1/2 by 45 in.
105.4 by 179.1 by 114.3 cm.
This work is number 1 from an edition of 6.
incised with artist's signature and numbered 1/6
bronze
41 1/2 by 70 1/2 by 45 in.
105.4 by 179.1 by 114.3 cm.
This work is number 1 from an edition of 6.
Footnotes
Provenance
Galería Espacio, El Salvador
Acquired directly from the present owner in 2004
Jorge Jiménez Deredia is one of Costa Rica's most important and celebrated artists of the last century. His sculptures are timeless visions that capture, not only the rich cultural heritage of Deredia's native country but draw upon the artistry and forms of Renaissance and Modernist sculpture in Europe with an enchanting verve. In the present work, Sí mismo, these evocative themes emerge in an elegant sculpture that is characteristic of Deredia's greatest works.
Born in 1954, Deredia grew up observing the paintings and sculptures of his native peoples in the Museum of San Jose. In their simplicity, spirituality, and cultural significance, the artist saw a universality that compounded his commitment to the sculpted form. In materials and shapes moulded by ancient and modern hand alike that represented the body, Deredia saw a perfect expression of humanity. After studying at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose, in 1976 Deredia was awarded a scholarship to study in Carrara, Italy; synonymous with the marble that has been quarried from the region and used by the greatest sculptors since antiquity to the present day. At the age of 22, he honed his skills as a master craftsman, learning carving techniques and scrutinizing the works of the artists he aspired to emulate. In Rome and Florence, he examined and sketched the works of Bernini, Michelangelo, and Brunelleschi. It was a formative period for Deredia – eventually settling in the region, continuing to study at the Fine Arts Academy and later the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence – that would culminate in his inclusion in the 1988, 1993, and 1999 editions of the Venice Biennale to great acclaim.
Composed of two looping spheres that conjure a lemniscate, the adopted symbol for infinity, his female subject arches to hold a mirror back at the self, perched over a mass that holds her perfectly in balance. It is a form that feels as cosmic and mathematical as it does human and expressive. Across the patinated surface of Sí mismo, there is a luscious sense of volume that calls to mind the fullness of the paintings of Fernando Botero or the richness of a Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Perched atop an orb that becomes a stand-in for the earth or the soul, the geometries of the present work are unmistakably human, yet the curves feel distinctly modern and structural. Like Constantin Brancusi or the Venus of Willendorf before him, the discreet construction of Deredia's figure imbues a monumentality and transcendence that places him squarely amongst a lineage of sculptors who have succeeding in achieving a sculptural syntax that stands apart from fashion and fad.
Presented here, therefore, is an elegant and thought-provoking sculpture by one of the most prominent Latin American artists of recent decades, whose virtuoso talent and studied skill with his three-dimensional media are nothing short of ageless and compelling. Capturing his subject in a moment of introverted disposition, Deredia's Sí mismo is a poetic piece that speaks to the human condition as much as the artist's forebears and inspirators.
