Jesús Moroles’s Granite Weaving

Meet the Artists of Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art

Media - 1996.1A-F - SAAM-1996.1A-F_3 - 86430

Jesús Moroles, Granite Weaving1988, 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.

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