Michael Grab, the art of balancing rocks

The art of stone balancing has been practiced by various cultures around the world for centuries , someone has made an art about it: is the land artist Michael Grab who creates astonishing towers and orbs of balanced rocks, without glue or other adhesive, using little patience and an astonishing sense of balance. Through manipulation of gravitational threads, the ancient stones become a poetic dance of form and energy, birth and death, perfection and imperfection. Michael Grab was born and raised in Edmonton, Canada and moved to Boulder, CO to attend the University of Colorado. He graduated in 2007 with a degree in Sociology and currently resides and works in Boulder. His works with stones is inspirited from shamanic ideas and influential thinkers such as Alan Watts, Terrence Mckenna, and Noam Chomsky. The artist says: “I BALANCE ROCKS for a number of reasons. My initial attraction was the good feeling it gave me; the meditative aspect is relaxing. That is the fundamental basis for my continued practice. As I did it more, I noticed that small crowds would start gathering to watch. There is a mutual creation that begins once people are watching. What I do next is often influenced by spectators. It’s almost as if they feed off the energy surrounding the gardens, but simultaneously my creative flow feeds off of people’s interest in the activity. (…) When looking at these, the mind often tries its hardest to tell you this impossible, but the eyes contradict the mind”.

Sources: thisiscolossal.com; matadornetwork.com