Outdoor Painted Sculpture, Painted Outdoor Sculpture Conservation, Public Art Conservation:
The colorful glass fiber painted outdoor sculpture by Luis A. Jiménez, FIESTA JARABE, was reinstalled by Cleveland area McKay Lodge Art Conservation Laboratory in mid-August 2017 in scorching heat at the Land Port of Entry in Otay Mesa, California. The painted outdoor sculpture specialist conservators removed the deteriorating sculpture about two years ago for sculpture conservation and have been refurbishing it with the approval of Susan Jiménez, Executive Director, the Luis. A. Jiménez Jr. Estate.
This port of entry is the third-busiest commercial port of entry on the United States/Mexican Border. The fiberglass Jiménez sculpture resides directly adjacent to a pedestrian cross-over walkway that receives a great amount of traffic.
McKay Lodge Art Conservation Laboratory is no stranger to Jiménez sculptures. McKay Lodge, in collaboration with PPG corporation, has pioneered the optimal treatments and protective finishes for painted outdoor sculptures by Luis Jiménez and have a special facility for this work in Oberlin, Ohio near Cleveland. Here, several painted outdoor sculptures by Luis Jiménez have been treated under the guidance of PPG and several more of his outdoor painted sculptures are at the facility waiting treatment.
Luis Jiménez was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1940 and died in New Mexico in 2006. While growing up he worked in his father’s shop, making neon signs. He studied art and architecture at the University of Texas where he received his B.F.A. Though known primarily for his large, brightly colored, spray painted, fiberglass sculptures, he also produced many colored lithographs and colored-pencil drawings.
Luis A. Jiménez, FIESTA JARABE in Otay Mesa Land Port of Entry is a painted outdoor sculpture public artwork in the GSA collection.