Particularly noticed in 1995 during a memorable chestnut festival on the theme of wood and forest, the chainsaw sculptor Pio Pascolo died at the age of 80 in Mouchard, in the Jura, where he lived. He leaves Christiane, his partner of 35 years, in the pain of mourning, as well as his children and grandchildren.
Originally from Venzone, a small town of 2,200 inhabitants in the north-east of Italy, he arrived in France at the age of 12 already with a passion for sculpture deeply rooted in his body. An old sharp screwdriver, shards of glass and a wood chisel were his first tools. It was very little, but enough to create a very first exhibition of copies of ancient bas-reliefs.
He attended the School of Fine Arts in Brussels, and a few years later, he took up wood sculpture. With just a chainsaw and a boundless imagination, he quickly became the pioneer of this contemporary art by hosting parties in the Jura where he presented a real spectacle.
He quickly gained notoriety and began to be known nationally and even internationally. In the 1980s at the Versailles Garden Show, he put on a real show in front of some 350,000 visitors who came to see him in twelve days. The media were then interested in him and he performed in different places. In France as in Europe and even further afield since personalities like King Baudoin or Prince Rainier had called on him. Jean-Jacques Annaud even asked him to sculpt the Bear from his film.
The years passed. While he was in Saint-Ponais, doctors discovered he had cancer. Well cared for and with a particularly robust constitution, he emerged victorious in the fight against illness. But lately his health had declined. He was then hospitalized in Dole for several months before taking his last breath.
The final curtain suddenly fell on the artist, but his works are still present. In particular this totem made of Douglas wood, around ten meters high, which, at the Cabarétou pass for almost 30 years, has resisted bad winds.
Quite a symbol!
