Grotto

“Grotto” by San Antonio artist Carlos Cortés is a three-story, dream-like sculpted structure located in a bend of the river between the Camden and Newell Street bridges, adorning both the roadway and riverway. “Grotto” features craggy faces carved into cave-like walls, splashing waterfalls and surrealistic, winding passageways with eerily realistic stalagmites and stalactites.

Cortés is a third generation Faux Bois (false wood) concrete artist. Besides the many hand-carved decorations or artist “follies,” the grotto features benches, recessed lighting, a picnic area and a street-level stairway leading into the jaws of a giant jaguar head. Directly across the river on street level, Cortés constructed a palapa–a thatched-roof shade structure with benches sprouting from wood, all carved in concrete.

“Grotto” is included in the San Antonio River Foundation’s collection. Learn more at https://sariverfound.org/art-along-the-river/.