רפאל פסו
פיסול בעץ טבעי ועוד
Natural wood sculpture and more
Wood Stories
סיפורי עצים
Every sculpture has its own story, whether it is about when I first discovered the material or during the sculpting process. Here are some of these stories:
White on White
On a trip to the Galilee I found a small and interesting piece of wood on the roadside. I took it home and worked on it until it looked like a wooden statue.
Around that time, my wife had told me about a friend of hers who coloured wooden sculptures in a beautiful and striking lime-colour. I was curious, and thought to myself that this is what she suggests I do.
Without too much thought, I mixed water with lime and dipped the wooden statue in the solution. The next day the statue turned white-lime. I went proudly to my wife and showed her the product. The response was not what I expected, "What did you do?" she cried, “you’ve ruined the statue.”
I tried to improve the result by scraping narrow bands around the piece to reveal some of its original wood-color. To her it was still not satisfactory, but for me it was good enough. And so the piece remained white-lime.
Sculpture > Galloping Horse
Market
I used to buy seeds at the city market. As usual I would look around, and not just at what was for sale. I noticed something that resembled a tree root under one of the table-stands, but I was not entirely sure. I bought some seeds, and later returned to the same table-stand.
I bent over to take a closer look and saw that it was indeed an interesting tree root.
I was embarrassed to interupt the seller as he loudly advertised his merchandise to attract buyers. Still, I gathered my courage and asked him if I may get something from underneath his table. Happily, he had no objection.
I took the root and thanked him, and this what became of that tree root.
Sculpture > Animal and its Offspring
Stirring Dance in Haifa
During one of my visits to Haifa, to see my brother, I went for a morning walk with my wife through the city. I wanted to remember the landscapes that were once part of my life, and the city where I lived and learned for a long time.
While walking through the old Technion building (in which I studied during my first year as a student there) I recalled my experiences as a young man with a strong desire to study electrical engineering, looking for jobs in order to pay my tuition fees.
I scanned the building and the surrounding space. From far away I saw a piece of wood. I picked it up and returned to my brother’s home with a big smile, hopeful that something interesting would materialize from the wood.
Surprisingly, a stormy dance was the result.
Sculpture > Stirring Dance
Sometimes I thought I was Picasso...
Roots Trip
From time to time I would go for a morning walk to a place that required approval by a security guard for entry. At times I would go there to hear evening lectures.
One morning walk, not far along the route, I saw some discarded tree roots which were not there the day before. I wanted to retrieve them right away, but it was not possible due to the amount of mud that covered them, and the added weight of all of this mud.
Fortunately I remembered that we were to attend a lecture there in the evening, and that the guard would permit us to enter by car. I decided to wait and pick up the muddy roots after the lecture, although I feared that they would disappear by then.
After the lecture I parked close to where I had found the roots that morning, and gathered them into the car.
The next day I walked the same path. I noticed that the man responsible for cleaning the surface looked amazed and bewildered as to what happened to the tree roots that were there just the day before.
Although there were originally three tree roots, I made five sculptures because two of these were from leftovers.
Sculpture > Cute Puppy; Untitled; Turtle Time; Aesthetic Beauty; Eyes that Bewitch
Jerusalem ‘02
Jerusalem is where I spent my childhood, filled with meaningful experiences - the period of the British Mandate, the War of Independence, shelling and starvation.
One weekend we went to a hotel in Jerusalem. During the day we walked to several interesting places, and then we arrived to Ein Karem. We reached the road leading to the Sisters of Sion Monastery, where we would occasionally sojourn in one of its monastic rooms, and enjoy its lovely gardens and the quiet, stunning scenery of the Jerusalem Hills.
During dusk, while I scanned the surroundings, I noticed something interesting near one of the houses. As I approached, my eyes revealed two large pieces of wood that had sculpture potential.
I told my wife that this revelation is important enough for me to stop the trip. I rushed to the parking lot to get my car, because I was worried that the two wood pieces would disappear into a garbage truck, and then I quickly loaded the wood pieces into the car.
I returned to the hotel feeling very happy with the knowledge that I had excellent material for massive sculptures that would remind me of the city of my childhood.
Sculpture > Power; Get My Blessing
The Neighbours and the Octopus
Many of the tree pieces that I found were from the beaches of Ashdod. I lived in Ashdod for many years, not far from the sea, and would walk along the beach several times a week. During the winter, because of stormy seas and strong coastal winds, numerous uprooted trees are thrown ashore.
On one of these walks I came across a large tree resembling an octopus. I was impressed by its shape, but I wondered how I would transport it all the way back to my house. I sat down nearby and watched people strolling by and occasionally glancing at it. I realized that it was too big to put it into my car, but that my wife’s Renault 4 has a backdoor which may fit this large tree. I returned home quickly, and came back with the Renault 4 and my son. I hoped to do it quickly enough before the tree would be carried away by the tide. We carried it from the beach to the parking lot. We were able to fit the tree in the car, but we had to leave the back door opened.
We arrived to our residential building, a seven-story building with an elevator. We dragged the tree to the elevator but, because of its dimensions, the tree refused to enter the elevator.
What were we to do? I had to think. It seemed there was no choice – I would have to bring down my work tools and graft on the tree in the entrance area. But there remained yet another problem to solve; the work would continue for at least two weeks, so how would I reduce the chances that the tree would not be harmed or disappear?
I decided to leave it behind a high surface that was hidden from the front of the building but visible only from the rear. I tied it to a grid and hoped that nobody would notice it.
While working on the tree I realized that once completed I would have nowhere to place it. I looked around and decided to leave it in the center of the front garden of our building as a sculpture that integrates with the surrounding greenery.
However, placing it freely and directly on the ground may cause it to decay, or removed by anyone. So, I planned to install an iron anchor to attach the tree to the ground to keep it stable and difficult to extract. The work on the device was transferred to my brother in Haifa, who is an expert of such devices. And so a statue resembling an octopus stood at the front of our building.
After a month, a new, young tenant moved into the building. During our first meeting with him he told me why he chose to live in this building…it was thanks to the statue in the garden.”Neighbours who erect a statue in a garden,” he said, “are certainly cultured neighbours.”
The statue stood in the garden for over a year. The neighbours were content, and from time to time I would do the upkeep (grinding and lacquering).
One day I noticed that the statue was unstable and possibly cracked. I suspected that children were playing on it, causing cracks on the bottom. I realized that in order to preserve it, I would have to move it from the garden to my home. I had no choice but to cut its legs slightly in order for it to fit in the elevator.
Usually I worked on the trees in a small room at the far end of the apartment, but this time the work had to be done in the center of the living room. I remember this because, after a few days, the neighbour below us asked about the source of the noise he heard in his apartment. He wasn’t complaining, just curious.
The experience ended with one of the neighbours calling me the ‘Architect of Trees’.
Sculpture - Octopus
Losing Battle
On the main street of Rehovot I found a piece of tree bark. I knew that it would be difficult to process, but there was something interesting about it. I took it and tried to combine it with other wood sculptures. It suited the "Battle Scorpions" statue well, which combined to become a statue called "Ready for Battle".
After a week I noticed that worms were crawling inside the bark. For fear that it would spread to the rest of the wood, I threw it in the trash. Perhaps I was too hasty, and pesticides may have worked. But I threw it away out of fear that the worms would spread to the other sculptures.
Sculpture - Ready for Battle
Back to the Operating Table
The wood sculptures "Look of an Odd Duck" and “Guards of the Chicks” were originally collected from the Weizmann Institute, where I make my daily walk every morning.
The Institute covers a vast area, with rich vegetation and beautiful gardens, and from time to time alterations are made to the landscape. One of these alterations lasted several months, which I observed each day.
I noticed that small trees were being uprooted and thrown aside to make way for new plants. I looked at these everyday but their structure did not catch my eye.
Time passed and I realized that the work was completed. I was afraid that in a few days all of the trees would be thrown into a garbage truck. I looked closely at the trees that were strewn around and decided to take them in any case and try to work on them.
I chose four trees, and asked the guards at the entry gate for their approval to remove them. I was referred to the security officer. I went to him and explained that I was a wood sculptor. He approved in principle, but explained that I also needed the consent of the gardener. The officer was nice and serious, and took me in his car to the office of the head gardener.
The gardener asked me about my sculpting and told me about a big tree that was cut down yesterday, but I would need a truck to carry it. I explained to him that I was only interested in the trees that were scattered along the main path, which were not especially large or heavy. He consented and I rushed to my house. I took the car and went back for the trees.
All of the trees were collected into the vehicle. I brought them home, with lots of mud that was on them and I placed them on the porch table, which had been covered some minutes before in an old sheet. My wife was not enthusiastic about all of the mud and the mess, but at last she understood my heart, and even took a picture of the muddy trees.
When I started working on the first tree, I noticed a special smell in the air. My wife was worried that the dust of such trees was not healthy to breathe. The solution was to cover my nose and mouth with a protection mask, similar to those used by doctors in an operating room.
Once they called me an architect of trees, and this time I felt I was a surgeon of trees.
Despite these special trees, the sculptures that I created from them were interesting.
Sculptures > Keep the Chicks; Strange Looking Bird
Aesthetic Beauty
This piece of wood was leftover from a larger piece, which became a statue. Anyway, I decided to keep it. I did not know what would come out of it, but something drew me to start working on it.
Slowly, while working, I realized that there was something special that I still could not figure out. I kept working on it, sharpening it, making small changes, and to my surprise the piece of wood steadily improved. Although it did not look like something definitive, it still had aesthetic beauty, hence the name.
Sculpture > Aesthetic Beauty
Messiah's donkey
H 110 cm,W 86 cm, weight 17kg
(36kg Before sculpture )
On a morning walk in the city of Rehovot, I noticed that a kindergarten next to a synagogue was being built between the houses. On the ground were large cut trees, and two young Arabs were busy building the garden. I turned to an older man, Muhammad, and offered him 50 shekels to cut the branches around a tree, and then help me put the tree in the car. Muhammad agrees and asks me to bring a saw. I go home and take a saw. The woman warns, "Be careful not to cut your head off." I go to the garden and hand him the saw, while maintaining a safe distance.
The next day I return, and I see that the younger one, Mahmud, is finishing off the branches. I bring my car to the site and ask him to help me put the tree into the car. I suggested that he use the wheelbarrow that was in the area, because the tree looked heavy and large (its weight before work started 36 kg)
. He picks up the tree, puts it in the wheelbarrow, tries to move it ... but the wheelbarrow sinks into the sand at the construction site. He picks up the tree from the wheelbarrow, I try to help him, but he manages to carry the tree on his shoulders, a 16-year-old boy, and puts it in the trunk of the car.
When i arrived to my house, i attach a suitable trolley to the car, and slowly try to roll the tree out of the car (I could not pick it up) . With the trolley I go up to my house and put the tree on the balcony.
The next day I ask for my son's help, to raise the tree to a small carpenter's table. Before that I put wheels on the base of the carpenter's table so that I can move the table in the porch area. Together we lift the tree and put it on the table and ... the table wheels are collapsing. I removed the wheels and replaced them with rubber bands. This time it worked, and the table could be moved without scratching the tiles on the porch.
The next day I started to work on the tree. In the first stage, I used an electric saw to attach the saws to remove unnecessary parts of the tree. The work continued for several months, during which I discovered how hard the wood was. About 20 saws were broken during the work and at the end, after all my effort, my right wrist hurt. I ordered an appointment for an orthopedist and got physiotherapy for a month. After several months, gradually, the situation returned to normal.
I wanted to combine lighting in the sculpture (see video), but I did not know how to realize it.
In Bat Mitzvah of a friend's grandson, the children were given plastic glasses with glittering lights. I realized that the solution was there, and I took one pair of glasses.
At home I dismantled them and adopted the circle of lights. I bought a few more pairs, adjusted the circle to the statue, combined it with a number of holes in the wood and hid it so as not to damage the sculpture's appearance.
In a certain hole in the sculpture I integrated an eye-shaped . For this purpose, I used a small light bulb into which I inserted the light circuit.
In the circuit I changed the switch with a thin plastic stick that turn the circuit on / off by touching .
The name Messiah's donkey came into my mind when I saw the statue with twinkling light in the dark. Its general shape resembles a donkey and the glimmers of light give hope to a better future.
