Michael Grab is an artist specializing in

rock balancing Rock balancing (also stone balancing, or stacking) is a form of recreation or expression in which rocks are balanced on top of one another, often in a precarious manner. Conservationists and park services have expressed concerns that the arrang ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed i ...

, and

videography Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It use ...

. He was born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

, Alberta, Canada and currently based in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, United States, and has worked professionally since 2008, creating precarious, short-lived works of art, usually in natural and often remote settings. Grab began practicing his craft in Boulder Creek and he still considers it his home base, though he has given live performances of rock balancing in Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland and Germany and he has balanced rocks in Croatia, Italy, Belgium, and France. Much of his work is installed in remote natural settings, such as near river or ocean shorelines, and in other natural rocky settings. He has balanced rocks on the shores of

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claim ...

. Some work has also been installed in urban settings, such as on street sidewalks. He has installed at least one short-lived underwater rock balance sculpture.https://www.youtube
Gravity Glue 2015; May 18, 2017 (Underwater Rock balance at 3:55). Grab often disassembles his work when leaving the site to "close the cycle" and also to adhere to the " leave no trace" principle of

trail ethics Trail ethics define appropriate ranges of behavior for hikers on a public trail. It is similar to both environmental ethics and human rights in that it deals with the shared interaction of humans and nature. There are multiple agencies and group ...

. Or, he knocks them down, sometimes videographing them as they

collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects * Collapsing user interface elements ** ...

. Grab has a degree in sociology which he earned in 2007 from the University of Colorado. Grab considers meditation a part of the practice of successfully balancing rocks. Grab explains that the focus involved in finding points of balance for rocks causes a shutting down of the "excessive mind chatter that usually goes on in people’s heads". His work has been popularized by his own photography of the finished, balanced rocks, which he posts to his website. Grab is not overly concerned with the impermanence of his work. He considers his work to have "quite a bit of Zen or Buddhist overtones." Beyond the balancing involved, Grab has aesthetic criteria as well. He is critical of some of his own output. He may explain that a piece feels too clumsy. Or he may explain that the "balance points" are too large or the components themselves lack inherent interest. He explains that a recent theme is "to make it look as impossible as possible." The time involved varies considerably from piece to piece, with some formations taking up to five hours to complete. The work of Michael Grab has been associated with the

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

movement although that

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...

was most dynamic in the 1960s.

References

External links

Gravity Glue
(Michael Grab's official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Grab, Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Artists from Edmonton Canadian installation artists

References

Further reading

External links