Jesús Moroles, Granite Weaving, 1988, Georgia gray granite, Smithsonian American Art Museum
About this Artwork
Moroles’s granite sculptures originate deep in the earth, born of fire and the volcanic action that created the very crust of the planet. Moroles began “weaving” granite in the late 1980s. Although he speaks in terms of fabric, Granite Weaving also reads as the wall of a stepped pyramid in which horizontal stone slabs support, and in turn are buttressed by, small blocks of granite. This sculpture unites minimalist forms and the natural materials of land art to recall ancient structures found in Indonesia, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), and Mexico.