Jimenez’ works are distinctive mainly for their choice of materials and metaphors. These metal constructions are assembled from steel discards found throughout Manila ’s junkshops, converted from “junk” into free-standing or wall-bound three-dimensional works. The artist produces his pieces spontaneously, without a predetermined thematic for the pieces, preferring to shape metaphors as a result of experimenting and creating new three-dimensional pieces. The artist’s themes are often allusions to his individual experiences and memories of work or with acquaintances. The artist notes that his works are “dependent on found junk”, necessarily limited by the pieces of discards he is able to salvage.

Jimenez first started experimenting with the medium a few years back, featuring his first series of works via a solo exhibition at mag:net last year. This second exhibition presents several transitions in the artist’s process: before, Jimenez mainly welded disparate steel pieces together to create compositions. Now, he incorporates additional techniques such as the treatment of colors by deliberately allowing the piece to rust, and produces various textures through sanding and serrating the pieces.

Jimenez also has a penchant for creating puns between the visual and textual, by juxtaposing titles such as “Beauty Parlor” and “Nakawalkman si Batman” with works alluding to the qualities of such themes. The titles, thus, are rendered integral to the work’s process in such cases, serving as a metaphorical link.

Jimenez also presents a series of experiments with sculpture installations, such as his variations on the theme of a TV set in 19 separate pieces, or “Monsters Inc.”, a fifteen-piece series deriving from popular culture. Jimenez also makes inroads into a new stylistics for his steel works in his use of crumpled metal to create fabric-like surfaces.