Samsara

Pedro Reyes’ Samsara is titled after the Sanskrit concept of rebirth central to many Eastern religions. The sinuous, twelve-foot-tall sculpture is hewn from gargantuan blocks of basalt – the result of rapidly cooling lava from Popocatépetl – an active volcano 40 miles south of Mexico City. Basalt is the most abundant rock type in Earth’s crust, found both on land and under the ocean floor. A symbol of strength, continuity, and timelessness, basalt defines humanity’s built environment and is found in ancient Mesoamerican and Roman sites, Moai icons on Easter Island, and the Rosetta Stone as well as modern construction. In Samsara, Reyes works the usually craggy stone to high finish by hand, connecting thousands of years of creative process to the present. Visually the sculpture is a pillar, a column, an arch, and a portal that simultaneously grounds and lifts. Placed on Commonwealth Pier, Samsara is a site for inspiration, congregation, and personal reflection.

In his larger artistic practice, Reyes mines the past to propel toward the future. Working in the belief that “artists change the perception of things,” he makes art that functions as both object and message, focusing on issues from gun violence to nuclear disarmament. In his sculptural work, Reyes asks, ‘How will we be remembered in two hundred years? What is our visual legacy?’ When time washes over, and the names of makers are forgotten and the Harbor takes new shape, Reyes’ lasting stone will continue to celebrate shared humanity in a vision that is both grounded and ascendent.