Jorge Jiménez Martínez was born in October 1954 in Heredia, Costa Rica. His activity as a sculptor begins during his adolescence and develops in the artistic workshop of the Castella Lyceum in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. Initially Deredia starts training by carving portraits in stone and wood. However, his attention is soon caught on one hand by the development of organic shapes and their reactions with the environment and the force of gravity and growth and the research on pre-Colombian art on the other hand. After the diploma, as well as working as a teacher at the Castella Lyceum, he begins to attend the Fine Arts Academy and the University of Costa Rica in San José.

In 1976, the Italian government launches a competition for a 7 month scholarship for foreign students to learn techniques of carving marble in Carrara. Deredia takes part in the competition and after winning the scholarship, he decides to come to Italy together with his young wife Giselle in October 1976. For the first time, he has the chance to observe at close range the creations of Italian artists. He often goes to Florence and Rome where he spends a lot of time drawing and studying the works of Bernini, Michelangelo and Brunelleschi in particular.

After having attended a cycle of lectures at the Carrara School of Marble, he decides to not return to his country, Costa Rica, and to remain in Italy to devote himself completely to sculpture. A period of intense work begins for the young sculptor who has the opportunity to further his studies in a foreign country, initially within the Carrara Fine Arts Academy and later to learn techniques on carving marble and working with bronze in numerous workshops in the area.


Between the end of 1976 and mid 1980s, he realizes a series of works from which a strong feel of uneasiness, anger and uncertainty is shown through hard traits and screaming figures. His objective focuses on making a Latin American mark on his work which is however mediated by the western artistic culture. Works with emblematic titles are realized such as Riscattando gli ultimi elementi del passato (Redeeming the last elements of the past), Rifugio (Refuge), Tensione (Tension), Basta!El Salvador (Enough!El Salvador), but above all many variations to the theme of maternity which will be intensified after 1978, year of the birth of his son Esteban. The traditional theme of mother and child will come up many times in his work. It will also represent one of the possible developments of the theme of fertility and birth which will be faced later on through organic and symbolic shapes such as the sphere, the womb and the breasts.


After having been awarded the diploma at the Carrara Fine Arts Academy, from 1980 to 1986 he attends the faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence. The years spent in Florence provides Deredia with intellectual stimulus which deeply changes his approach to artistic work. Immersed in the Florentine atmosphere, he is deeply interested in the Renaissance period. The intellectual dedication of that period pushes him to reflect without stopping upon the development of his work, development which takes place along the line with his new perception of life. Recovering the Costa Rican culture and in particular the pre-Colombian spheres of the ancient Boruca Indians strengthens the insight of his global vision of the being and the universe. Those mysterious artefacts push the sculptor to study both shape and material used and function and symbology connected to the sphere and the circle. The sphere is an archetype and is synthesized in a drawing made with Indian ink in 1985, the first Genesi (Genesis.) The new phase of change is highlighted by adopting the artistic name of Deredia, contraction of “de – Heredia” (from - Heredia), his home town. From 1985, the sculptor’s thought process accompanying his artistic production is clear and defined. The experimental phase which identifies this period will lead the artist to create a series of sculptures characterized by interlocking elements, negative and positive forms and parts detached from a main unit.


In 1988, Deredia takes part in his first Art Exhibition Venice Biennale. He will also take part in the 1993 and 1999 editions.
Between 1990 and 1993, he furthers his metaphoric re-interpretation of the elements of the pre-Columbian culture. He devotes his attention at composing still life (nature morte) by carving works out of Carrara grey marble and creating bas-relief in red bricks and painted aluminium. However, vases, bottles and jars placed on top of a base or hanged on a wall, in the case of the bas-relief, become sensual, they stretch and grow coming closer to each other and bringing life to the composition that Pierre Restany will define as “Natura Viva” (“Living Nature”).


Over these years, Deredia continues to develop a thought process which will become stable in the Genesi (Genesis) and in Immagini Cosmiche (Cosmic Images). These two works represent the climax of all elements and historical and artistic references which have characterized all previous work. However, the awareness and development of a thought process, of a philosophical approach for his work together with the extraordinary care in working the marble and the bronze, have enriched these sculptures with a renewed soundness. In 1999, the Vatican awards the “Beato Angelico” prize as a reward for the spiritual high quality testified by the artist through all his work. After this prize, the sculptor is asked by the factory of St Peter’s Basilica to carve the statue of San Marcellino Champagnat to be placed in one of the niches of the left transept of the Basilica. The statue of San Marcellino, carved out of Carrara white marble, weighs 20 tons and is 5.35 metres high. It is unveiled on 20th September 2000 in the presence of Pope Jean Paul II.


Deredia is currently involved in the realization of La Ruta de la Paz, a large project which includes the creation of nine sculptural collections of large dimensions which will be placed all along the American continent from Canada to the Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. Over the 30 years of his activity, the artist has carved and turned melted bronze in monumental art works for museums and public places in 11 different European countries, Asia, United States of America and Latina America. He has held 34 personal exhibitions and over 100 collective exhibitions.


Among the main cities which display his work, it is worth mentioning New York, Miami, Paris, Monterrey, London, Lima, San Salvador, Managua, Murcia,  Panama City,  Caracas, etc.

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