By Steve Bennett for MySA
Renowned Texas sculptor Jesús Moroles died in a vehicle crash late Monday night. He was 64.
Jesús Moroles
Jesús Moroles and Professor Ann Marie Leimer
Jesús Moroles and Professor Ann Marie Leimer
Jesús Moroles
Click photos to enlarge
Photos taken March 26, 2015 in Houston, TX (studio visit)
by Jesús Manuel Mena Garza. All rights reserved.
Moroles, who was born in Corpus Christi in 1950 and lived and worked in Rockport, was driving on Interstate 35 when he was involved in a crash north of Georgetown, according to the Rockport Pilot, which spoke to the artist’s sister Susanna Moroles. Other details were unavailable.
A representative of Moroles’ gallery, Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, confirmed the report. “He was going to be our featured artist in August,” said gallery director Bradley Sabin. “Now it’s totally up in the air.”
Moroles created both monumental and smaller scale works in granite. He received the 2008 National Medal of Arts and was the 2011 Texas State Artist for three-dimensional work.
“I knew Jesús for many years,” said San Antonio sculptor Bill Fitzgibbons. “I always found him very generous of spirit and supportive of other sculptors. He was one of a kind, and I will greatly miss his friendship.
“In terms of granite, I don’t know anybody who could sculpt and create pieces out of that material the way that Jesús could,” Fitzgibbons added. “I would say that he was not only one of the best sculptors in Texas, but in the United States.”
Moroles has a public piece at the Southwest School of Art, as well as “River Stelae,” a sculpture consisting of three monumental slabs of granite near the San Antonio Museum of Art.
“Working with Jesus on the sculptural fountain of Texas pink granite that graces our historic campus was a remarkable experience for me because of his personal warmth, wit and passion,” said Paula Owen, president of the Southwest School of Art. “And it was incredible to visit his studio and workshop in Rockport where he created major pieces for locations around the world. Texas has lost a significant artist, and I mourn his passing.”
Moroles once said of his sculpture: “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 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.”
According to the Rockport Pilot, the artist was at home last week finalizing transport of a sculpture to Dallas. He and his crew made the delivery Thursday and assembled the sculpture for the downtown Dallas area.
Susanna Moroles told the paper that her brother returned to Rockport from Dallas on Sunday because he had a jury duty notice for Monday. Then he then left town Monday evening, heading north to Oklahoma, to begin work on his next commissioned piece.
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