| NEWS RELEASE |
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Office of External Communications |
Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Eric Gerber |
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TO BE INSTALLED AT UH THURSDAY MORNING “Sodbuster, San Isidro,” a striking outdoor sculpture created by internationally acclaimed artist Luis Jimenez, will be installed at the University of Houston beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 25. The colorful, oversized fiberglass figure – 7 feet tall and 24 feet long – depicts an elderly but still vibrant farmer behind an ox-driven plow, a tribute to the country’s agricultural tradition. The piece, created in 1981, was originally commissioned by the city of Fargo, N. D. Other versions of “Sodbuster” are on display at Wichita State University and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The UH piece was previously at the Irving Arts Center in Irving, Texas. “Sodbuster” will be installed near UH’s Fine Arts Building. It is on long-term loan to the university. Nancy Hixon, assistant director of UH’s Blaffer Gallery, characterized the work as “a major addition to the university’s public art collection.” Jimenez is probably best known in Houston for his work “Vaquero,” a towering sculpture that depicts a gun-waving Hispanic cowboy atop a bucking bronco. It has been on display in Moody Park since the 1980s. He teaches figure drawing and public sculpture at UH each spring (but is on sabbatical this semester), “I work with images that are inspired by our culture,” says Jimenez. “They’re not esoteric things that are difficult to understand. They’re things people can relate to.”
For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom. |
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