Bayfront’s Maurice A. Ferré Park, formerly known as Museum Park, will serve as the backdrop for an elaborate outdoor exhibition of 14 giant works by renowned Costa Rican sculptor Jiménez Deredia.
The works will be on display beginning Oct. 14 and are expected to remain until at least the early part of December.
Deredia’s style fuses classical sculptural traditions with elements of Mesoamerican culture. His immense spheres are inspired by the Boruca, indigenous people of his native land. Deredia likes to describe his work as a cultural, artistic and sculptural intersection between old and new worlds.
(Courtesy of the Artist)
Sculptor Jiménez Deredia with one of his creations.
The pieces displayed in Miami will be relocated from Costa Rica and Italy for this exhibition.
Deredia learned how to carve marble in Italy as a young man by winning a scholarship competition in 1976. He never left, and today lives near Italy’s Carrara marble quarries.
He was the first non-European artist in 500 years to have a sculpture placed in St. Peter’s Basilica. The statue of San Marcellino weighs 20 tons and is 17 1/2 feet high.
Deredia’s monumental sculpture also dominates the Gardens of Latin America at Porte de Champerret in Paris, and his works are displayed in 11 different countries in Europe, Asia and the American continents. He has held 34 personal exhibitions and more than 100 collective ones.