Exhibition Dates: December 7 – 28, 2002
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 2 from 6 – 8 pm
Gallery Location: 432 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Hours: Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm
Contact Info: 504.522.1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com
The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent sculpture by Jesús Moroles. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger Gallery, located at 432 Julia Street, from December 7 –28, 2002. The gallery will host an opening reception on Saturday, December 2 from 6-8 pm.
Jesús Moroles, Dakota Stele (020083), 2002. Dakota granite, 16 x 20 x 6 1/4 inches
Jesús Moroles works on both a monumental and small scale in achieving a poetic resonance of material, form and motif. Working exclusively with granite, a stone of great density, hardness and weight, Moroles combines cutting and polishing techniques with the natural presence of the stone to create works of universal stature. The sculptor feels granite is “the core and heart of the universe.” Abstract in form, the granite works are a confluence of references and metaphors drawn from the landscape and from human interaction, as well as ancient cultures. This exhibit will feature Jesús Moroles’ recent columns and towers.
Working with the granite medium, Moroles follows the natural inclinations of a particular stone by driving wedges into the raw granite and allowing it to create its own fissure, thus creating objects of pure formal beauty through harmonization. Moroles explains, “My work is a discussion of how man exists in nature and touches nature and uses nature. Each of my pieces has about 50 percent of its surfaces untouched and raw— those are the parts of the stone that were torn. The rest of the work is smoothed and polished. The effect, which I want people to not only look at, but touch, is a harmonious coexistence of the two.”
Moroles refers to the hard stone as if it were alive, saying that when he visits a quarry to select his materials, certain pieces of granite speak to him and beckon him to take them home, though it may be years before they reveal their secrets to the artist. In this manner Moroles is aligned with many ancient cultures, which have attributed great powers—from magical energies to fertility and healing—to stones.
Moroles was born in the Texas coastal town of Corpus Christi in 1950. He received his BFA from North Texas State University and is included in numerous prestigious public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas; Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; New Orleans Museum of Art; and the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.