JESÚS MOROLES
Jesús Bautista Moroles is one of the most successful and beloved artists to hail from the state of Texas. Born in Corpus Christi and raised in a west Dallas barrio, Moroles went to Vietnam, serving in the Air Force, then received a BFA from the University of North Texas in Denton. Moroles apprenticed under the great figurative sculptor, Luis Jimenez, also an important Texas artist. After studying for a year in Pietrasanta, Italy, where Michelangelo quarried his stone, Moroles returned to Texas to perfect his signature style. His favorite material was granite, especially stone from Texas, and particularly Texas pink granite. Among his most famous works are the monumental Lapstrake, in front of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Police Officers' Memorial in Houston.
Moroles worked from a studio he established in Rockport, Texas, where his family members helped him produce sculptures and run the business. A hallmark of his unique style is the mixing of rough and smooth sides within one sculpture. According to Moroles, “As soon as you touch stone with a chisel, you’ve actually killed the quartz in it, and it doesn’t reflect light anymore. I actually tear it. Just like when you tear paper, it shows the fiber. That’s what I’m doing, I’m tearing it to show the inside of the stone and all the facets that reflect light.”
Over two thousand works by Moroles are held in public and private collections in the United States, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Japan, and Switzerland. His sculptures can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (where he also held a Board position), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Dallas Museum of Art, and many, many others. He was named Texas Artist of the Year and was awarded the Texas Medal of the Arts and the National Medal of the Arts. The Jesús Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard, an elementary school in Dallas, is named in his honor.
