Jesús Moroles, Bas Relief
Jesús Moroles
1950 Corpus Christi, Texas – 2015 Jarrell, Texas
Bas Relief
1990
granite
Albuquerque Museum, gift of Michael Henningsen and Family
PC2015.8.1
Jesús Moroles’s Bas Relief is a formidable monolith of solid grey granite. To create his stone sculptures, Moroles drilled small holes into granite, then inserted wedges to tear the rock and expose the untouched center. Moroles always left part of the stone raw and would polish or carve only selected areas. Bas Relief displays this interaction between the rough texture of the raw granite and the carved horizontal lines that create a rhythmic pattern from top to bottom. Moroles took his inspiration directly from the stones that he carved in an effort to create a harmonious coexistence between nature that is untouched and nature that is transformed through human hands.