"El Paso-born Luis Jimenez is arguably the most successful artist of his generation to capture and illustrate the contemporary American character in works of art," says Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, curator of American and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin. "Renowned in the '70s and '80s for his complex and ironic interpretations of life in the American West, Jimenez has continued his investigations in prints, drawings, and monumental public sculpture commissions for sites throughout the U.S. His larger-than-life depictions of border crossings, fiesta dancers, midwestern farmers, firefighters, and industrial steelworkers constitute an astonishing commitment to honoring the lives of everyday people and to chronicling the specific details of regional lifestyles in the midst of rapid change."

And all of this started in his father's electric sign shop.

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