Jesus Moroles, the Texas sculptor, has a fascinating piece in the sculpure garden of the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I walked around and around it until I got dizzy.
The Philbrook Gardens guide explains it far better than I could:
Jesus Moroles, American, b. 1950 / Vanishing Edge Round, 2004
Dakota mahogany granite...In Vanishing Edge Round, modern, abstract sculpture is created from contradictory reatures: rough to smooth, solid to transparent, abraded to polishe. A massive granit form soars weaightlessly into the air...unyielding respect for the raw material of the sculpure is constant. The viewer is aware of the hewing of the original block of granite that Moroles slices with a surgical finesse.
The optical illusions created by the changing tree shade and sunshine on the polished surfaces, and the bright noon light seen between the comb teeth make the stone mass seem to disappear. When the sun goes behind a cloud, the sculpture is a heavy hewn stone that would sit comfortably beside either ancient Egyptian busts of pharoahs or calligraphic Chinese scrolls.
© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder
1 comment:
I think optical illusion is really at the heart of sculpture. I always remember a marble sculpture of a girl with a sheer gown blowing against her legs at one of the museums in Berlin. My daughter was just four at the time, but she was able to understand that it was a great sculpture because of the impression of transparency.
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