Los Angeles has its own rock star. Now I know there are a lot of rock stars this city has produced in its history, but none like this one. That’s because this one is a rock — a real rock — a 340-ton granite rock that has taken up permanent residence at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a piece of modern innovative sculpture the artist, Michael Heizer, calls “Levitated Mass.” The imaginative display for this piece of rock includes a 456-foot-long passageway cut into the ground and back out on the other side beneath the 21-foot-high boulder, making it possible for visitors to walk completely under the rock and view it from the bottom against the usually blue southern California sky.
This particular rock star became famous in March of 2012, because of its 106-mile journey over 11 days from a quarry in Riverside to its new home. Eleven days to go 100 miles. You could walk it faster than that. The journey was notable for the sheer size and weight of the cargo, and the challenges that had to be overcome in simply transporting it to the museum. Along the way it was met by growing crowds of fans. The rock was becoming famous.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of it as art, I love the idea and the end result. The end result is something made by God put on display by man in the middle of what man has made. Some have said it makes a stark comparison in which the whole city, which can be seen in the background, can seem “fragile.”
I’m sure you have to be there to experience it. Photographs don’t do it justice. They don’t convey its size and weight. In a photograph, it just looks like a rock in front of a building. Up next to it – preferably underneath it – I’m sure is a different story. Something tells me God is probably getting a kick out of this.
“Art is made to memorialize time,” said the artist, when the piece was first introduced. “A culture is known by its art, not by its science.” Only in this case, it is God’s art that is being showcased, and I think that is nothing other than rock solid.
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
John Fischer The Catch 
A very cool Catch, Pastor John!
PS Being an College graud. of Engineeing, I just love art and getting away from the cut & dry of the sometimes science World!
God’s “art” is on display all around us, if we just take the time to behold it. But there are places that are really stunning like Yosemite. I wish everyone could spend some time there.
Apart from the grandeur of the rock itself, I’m not sure which impresses me more: the method of transporting the rock 11 days to its present location; or those little triangular platforms holding the rock suspended above the walkway.
Obviously, both are amazing feats of intelligent human planning and engineering!
Speaking of amazing feats:
It took the Israelites 40 years to make an 11 day journey because of their rock-like stubbornness. Yet the platform on which they finally ended up (and which we build upon) is larger than the universe.
If one thinks about the “Engineer” behind those plans, I would think one would find that mighty impressive, too!
In recognition of the Feast of Tabernacles which begins today, I wish you:
Happy Sukkot! Chag Sameach!
L’Chaim b’Yeshua – To LIFE in Jesus!
To learn more about the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), click here:
https://www.ifcj.org/learn/jewish-holidays/sukkot/
Shalom, Peace to you…
🙂
Thanks for showing this picture! I had heard about the artwork several years ago, in the context of hearing about another Heizer work called City which is located very far from any city — it’s in Lincoln and Nye Counties, Nevada. City includes passages carved into the desert earth much like the 456-ft-long passageway under Levitated Mass. One can see City using Google Earth. I’ll have to try to see if Levitated Mass is visible on Google Earth.