Harper's Bazaar Art

They stand proud and erect with a humble demeanour. Smooth slabs of wood that have been chisseled, etched and polished with the expert movements of the artist's hands are transformed into beings that offers a life-like presence to a given room. "Behind each sculpture there is an essence; a life that is present," says Lebanese, Paris-based sculptor Chaouki Choukini on the phone. While the abstract forms unfurl themselves like waves in the sea, gentling rising and falling through various depths, the forms Choukini creates often have physical traits. They harken back to the artist's memories of South Lebanon, his childhood and the beautiful natural landscape of his homeland.