"I like stone's naturalness and purity of color."

Born on February 20, 1962, Cesar Gonzáles has worked as a stone carver since 1988. Before that his job was in residential construction, building and finishing houses. But after learning the technique of stone sculpture in the workshop of a friend, he found he preferred it; the following year he became independent and began to create his own images.

A married man, Gonzáles has a son and three daughters. The oldest girl shows the most interest in her father's art and even assists him.

Gonzáles works with serpentine, rose manganese, calcite, celestite, red jasper, mottramite, chrysocolla, rhodochrosite and quartz. He travels to mines in the central sierra to acquire minerals and materials of all kinds. "I work in stone because of the beautiful things that can be made with each kind," he says. "I like stone's naturalness and purity of color."