Jiménez Deredia was born in Heredia, Costa Rica, on October 4, 1954. In 1976, he established his studio in Carrara, Italy. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and also attended the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence.
 

The pre-Columbian stone spheres created by the Boruca culture of Costa Rica have been a primary source of inspiration throughout his artistic career. In 1985, he developed the first Génesis, laying the foundations of his artistic philosophy known as Transmutative Symbolism.
 

In 2000, Pope John Paul II commissioned him to create the statue of Saint Marcellin Champagnat, installed in St. Peter’s Basilica within one of the monumental niches designed by Michelangelo between 1544 and 1564.
 

In 2006, Deredia was appointed Corresponding Academician of the Sculpture Class by the Florentine Academy of Arts and Design, an institution whose members have included figures such as Michelangelo, Palladio, and Galileo Galilei.
 

He has received numerous international recognitions, including the Keys to the City of Miami (USA) and to his hometown of Heredia. The Republic of Costa Rica named him Honorary Citizen in recognition of his contribution to culture, and in 2018 he received the “Vita d’Artista” Award from the city of Montecatini Terme, Italy.
 

In 2009, for the first time in its history, the Roman Forum opened its spaces to contemporary art, hosting monumental sculptures by Jiménez Deredia along the Via Sacra.

Since 2003, Jiménez Deredia has presented large-scale open-air exhibitions in major cities around the world, including Florence, Rome, Valencia, Trapani, Boca Raton, La Baule, Genoa, San José, Mexico City, Miami, Courchevel, and Benidorm.
 

Over the course of more than five decades, this singular Latin American artist and thinker has carved marble and cast monumental bronze works for museums and public spaces across Europe, Asia, the United States, and Latin America, conveying a message of peace and hope through the most tangible of the arts: sculpture.