A member of the Otomi, an Indigenous people in Central Mexico, Octavio Medellín immigrated to the United States as a child, and his sculpture bears the impress of traditions on both sides of the border: US-based modernist sculpture, Mexican modernist painting, Otomi art, and the ancient sculpture of other Mexican Indigenous peoples, including the Maya. [In his 1950 masterpiece History of Mexico, Medellín fuses these influences into a style so idiosyncratic that it resists efforts to view his work through the lens of nationality or cultural identity.] Artists, he insisted, should strive for individual expression, even as they draw inspiration from their heritage and the communities where they live and work.