The art of Jiménez Deredia through the streets of Genoa together with Enel

Starting from September 16, visitors to Genoa will find the works of Jiménez Deredia exhibited in some of the city’s most significant locations: eight imposing and evocative sculptures placed along a route that stretches from Brignole Station to the Old Port. The open-air exhibition Deredia in Genoa “The Sphere between Two Worlds” is part of the Municipality of Genoa’s cultural program and will run until November 30. Enel is the main sponsor of the initiative, which brings to the streets of the Ligurian capital the work of one of the most important contemporary artists: Deredia was the first South American artist to exhibit inside St. Peter’s Basilica. His San Marcellino Champagnat was placed, on the occasion of the Jubilee in 2000, in a niche designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Nine years later, during a major solo exhibition across three museums in Rome, he became the first contemporary artist to bring his works inside the Roman Forum. Seven of the eight sculptures displayed along the Genoa route had never been exhibited to the public before.

Deredia, born in 1954 in Costa Rica, has a deep bond with our country, he is an artist who bridges cultures and continents, blending the ancestral mythologies of the indigenous peoples of his homeland with the spirit and techniques of the Italian Renaissance, which he discovered while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and the University of Florence.The foundation of his language, which he calls transmutative symbolism, lies in the softness and roundness of spheres. His female figures are free of angles, symbolizing change and progress, a message that is particularly important in times like these. His personal artistic journey originates from the relationship with the Boruca indigenous people of Costa Rica, who, two thousand years ago, created almost perfect spheres carved in granite, passed down to us without clear explanation of their purpose or meaning. Deredia received this ancestral message and grafted it into the Italian Renaissance tradition.

Enel supports Deredia’s exhibition not only for its international value but also because large sculptures placed in public and accessible spaces, like those exhibited in Genoa, harmonize with the city, make it vibrant and represent a democratic way of bringing people closer to contemporary art.

The sponsorship confirms the strong bond between Enel and the highest and most innovative forms of artistic language, a bond that began with the creation of Enel Contemporanea, the public art program launched in 2007. Moreover, Deredia symbolizes how Italy is able to attract and cultivate talent across all sectors of culture: the Costa Rican sculptor arrived in our country as a student, eager to engage with art and history, and decided never to leave. For some time now, he has lived permanently in Liguria, in Castelnuovo Magra, near the border with Tuscany and not far from the marble of Carrara that he loves so much. The granite spheres of the Boruca people have indeed evolved, in his hands, into Italian marble, which is the material used for three of the sculptures in Genoa, Il Viaggio, Encanto and Refugio, all located at the Old Port. The other five sculptures are made of bronze: Deredia is one of the few contemporary sculptors at his level who still personally works on the material.

The exhibition of his sculptures will also be accompanied by a photographic exhibition hosted at the Spazio Enel locations in Genoa, showcasing images that tell the story where public art comes to life, embedded within the city’s urban context.