With only a few hand tools, a wheelbarrow and the company of his dog, 75-year-old self-taught artist Ra Paulette has been scraping and chipping away - what he calls “the dance of digging” - at the sandstone cliffs of northern New Mexico for more than a quarter of a century.
His twelve or so works so far, described by him as “wilderness shrines - massive in scale, poetic in their design”, have an abstract look with a deep, hollow and continuous feel, featuring dramatic curved entrances, narrow walkways and swirling patterns along textured walls, all hidden behind unassuming small cave openings.
Ra Paulette in the interior of the Luminous Caves Photo: racavedigger.com
The pieces have been commissioned mostly by art-loving residents nearby and aim to create "a sense of being underground” and “the intimacy of being in a cave” he told CBS News last year.
His latest and final project, Luminous Caves, is said to be his most ambitious and largest yet, with columns reaching around 30 to 40 feet high and creating the “juxtaposition of opposites” with both small and big spaces.
Used as an “other worldly venue” for presentations and performances relating to social welfare, the Luminous Caves aim to create “spiritual renewal and personal well being” for its visitors.
He also plans to paint the walls and even create a space for a waterfall and a pool.
“Half this room is going to be a pool, and there’ll be seating around the bottom”, he told CBS.
The walls in one of Ra Paulette's caves Photo: racavedigger.com
Currently, there are no caves open for public visits due to the artist being "immersed in his present project", according to his website.
Other works of the Indiana-born sculptor include a cave along the Rio Grande River, which took two years to complete. It is powered by electricity, has a wood floor and a bathtub with running water, CBS News reported.
Wall art in one of Ra Paulette's caves Photo: racavedigger.com
One of his most notable works was created on the grounds of Rancho de San Juan, a 225-acre Relais & Châteaux resort set along the Ojo Caliente River Valley just an hour outside Santa Fe, the state capital, where a sandstone hill was carved out into an interior space with a series of wall carvings, the Boston Globe reported.
Known as Windows in the Earth Shrine, visitors to the space, furnished with a desk and chair, could step inside “to meditate” and “to write” as well as enjoy views of the Jemez Mountains through its glass door and windows. The intimate cave was said to have also been the setting for desert wedding ceremonies.
Ra Paulette at work in the Luminous Caves Photo: racavedigger.com
The piece was the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Cavedigger in 2014. Dubbing his art caves as the “eighth wonder of the world”, the film followed the artist at work - a carving process he describes as “the foundation of my self expression”.
“Like a dancer, I ‘feel’ the body and its movement in a conscious way" he explains.
Regarding his projects as a labour of love, Mr Paulette is said to only charge $12 (£8) an hour for his work. One property company was reported to have been in the process of selling two of his caves last year for around $2 million, none of which he will be claiming to his name.
"You don't do this for the money, you're not getting rich off making these beautiful places, " he told CBS News.
"No, it's the process, you know? I'm having the time of my life.
"Most of the wonder that I feel is in the actual making of the caves. Once they're made, I move on, if I want fresh wonder," he said.
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