A Wood Sculpture Fair in San Ramon Educates Visitors About the Art.

In Guanacaste a sculptor is creating inspiring works of art using trunks and abandoned pieces of wood that he finds on the beach and in the forests. Rodolfo Uder uses precious tropical woods such as Ron-Ron, Rosewood and Purple Heart and adapts their shape and colors to produce contemporary pieces that hold a strong message; that of saving the tropical forest from extinction and the need to care for its magnificent trees. The wood speaks for itself in this art, with the way Uder lets its natural beauty speak out. Indeed with so much wood left ashore it does seem a pity to let it go to waste. Uder lives by the beach, in Paraiso de Santa Cruz, and has no shortage of raw material.

Uder is a professional agronomist and his love of nature has joined his creativity in an effort to promote conservation. His exhibition is on show in the Cultural Institute of Mexico and in the Gallery 87 (in the old Fanal Building in downtown San Jose) simultaneously.

With much humility, Uder points out that Mother Nature is the artist, and that he is participating by offering a helping hand! The way he knows how to adapt the natural shapes of the pieces of wood and his use of their colors and markings suggest an extension of nature’s work rather than the creation of a human being.

“Tropical wood is by itself a work of art,” he said. “All it needs is our ability to perceive their natural beauty.” Uder knows how to take advantage of their textures and colors, and cleverly follows the scars left by the sea, the fire, insects and the mushroom stains. For Uder, any piece of wood holds a message. He shows us human figures, happy, sad or terrorized faces, busts of some forgotten celebrity, or animal figures found in this country. Uder explains that because wood is a warm material, a balance is necessarily found with the use of geometrical forms.

As a perfect display for such art, the town of San Ramon, Alajuela is hosting the V Meeting of Sculpture San Ramon 2008 and uniting wood sculpture artists who dedicate their work to conservation and the protection of the environment.

Eleven sculptors from all over the country are taking part in this yearly event, where poetry and wood are brought together to give us a message of hope. The event started last Tuesday and is expected to last until next Sunday. Its main goal is to fire up the creativity of the younger population. The art of sculpturing wood demands a certain kind of love and communication between the artist and the wood, a harmony has to be present in order to arrive to the creation of a piece of art that can truly talk to us with its soul. Artists show great respect for the wood, the trees and Mother Nature; this is not about using wood, this is about mutual cooperation between artist and material.

Artists such as Ulises Jimenez and his son Pablo from Nicoya, Osvaldo Madrigal from Orotina, Luis Alonso Ramírez of Grecia, Marielos Miranda of Heredia and Jacqueline Córdoba from San Jose create pieces that may have been thought of in advance or just born out of instant inspiration. Invited guests from San Ramon include Leandro Moya, Rodolfo Varela, Roxana Badilla, Domingo Ramos and Raúl Gamboa.

The exhibition is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in San Ramon’s Central Park. If you are visiting or Living in Costa Rica, be sure to come pay witness to these artists who understand that art, far from being destructive, is only an extension of nature itself and can teach us respect, humility and care.

Photo courtesy of La Nacion.

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Filed under: Tico on August 29th, 2008