Description:

Jesús Bautista Moroles (American/Texas, 1950-2015), "Lapstrake", 1987, Georgia gray granite, unsigned, h. 82 1/2 in., w. 40 in., d. 6 1/2 in. ***Please contact Client Services for the viewing location, [email protected]*** Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist; Estate of Kenneth A. McAshan (1949-2021), New Orleans, LA. Note: Jesús Moroles was one of the master sculptors of his generation. Born in Corpus Christi, TX, Moroles developed an early passion for art. Following service in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and studies at North Texas State University, Moroles worked as an apprentice to renowned sculptor Luis Jimenez (1940-2006). In 1980, he fulfilled a lifelong dream to travel to Pietra Santra, Italy for one year, where he was deeply moved by the art and tradition of marble carving. The artist returned to Texas shortly thereafter and committed to working in stone. Rather than carving marble, however, Moroles instead felt that granite would be his medium. He was quoted as saying “granite was a fundamental element…the core and heart of the universe.” Looking to the work of Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) for aesthetic inspiration, Moroles began using wedge-like tools to split stone: "I wanted to expose the true nature of the stone, so I decided not to carve it but tear it." This method involved hammering five-inch steel wedges into the stone, causing it to split along the natural grain. Moroles polished some surfaces of the granite, but left others rough. The interplay of the smooth and coarse surfaces became a vital element in his work, a subtle commentary on the theme of man versus nature that would be woven into his sculptures throughout his career. Despite their large scale, Moroles completed all of his works in his own studio in Rockport, TX. Granite required both great physical strength and perseverance to transform, and Moroles rarely worked from sketches, instead allowing the medium to shape his design. His forms were universal columns, crescents, triangles, obelisks, and pyramids. Moroles’ largest work was a 1991 memorial to Houston police officers, a 120-by-120-foot public sculpture on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. His most visible was “Lapstrake” from 1987, a 64-ton, 22-foot-tall sculpture at 31 West 52nd Street Plaza in New York, across the street from the Museum of Modern Art. The word lapstrake means “overlapping” or “not flush.” With this series and the work offered here, Moroles wanted to “bring the quarry into the gallery” by creating a single block of granite that looks like many pieces of stone uneasily balanced atop one another. To “make the stone important,” Moroles preserved a sense of the rock’s original form and character, rather than carve the material into another object or abstract form. He effortlessly achieved the sense of monumentality, captivating surface and delicate sense of balance that transform the surrounding environment into a “sacred space.” Ref.: Adlmann, Jan Ernet and Jesús Moroles. Moroles: Granite Sculpture. Houston, TX: Herring Press, 2004; Castro, Fernando. “Jesús Moroles, Sculptor (1950-2015).” Literal Magazine. June 2015. www.literalmagazine.com. Accessed May 28, 2022; Gangelhoff, Bonnie. “Jesús Bautista Moroloes.” Southwest Art. Sept. 1997. www.southwestart.com. Accessed May 28, 2022.

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