Written by ZEID EL AMINE

Chaouki Choukini was born in 1946 in Choukine, a village in southern Lebanon. He studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Artsin Paris from 1967 to 1972, later teaching sculpture at the Lebanese University in Tripoli (1985-1987) and the Jordanian University of Yarmouk (1989-1991) before settling in Paris. In 2010 he was awarded the Taylor Foundation Prize for his sculpture Petit Prince, L’Enfant de Gaza (2009). As a sculptor, he works primarily with wood, which he describes as a living material with a connection to the earth that he strives to preserve in his sculptures. The artist’s conceptual and straightforward works are executed in a figurative style that is partially abstract yet identifiable in form. He carves polished wood in elegant curves and Cubistic edges that are spatially balanced to create rhythm and harmony. 

Choukini’s path to sculpture started early and was deeply entwined with his personal life. As a child, Choukini experimented with wood by making toys at a carpenter’s workshop. In Paris, he trained for five years with his wife’s uncle Fumio Otani, an expert in wood sculpting, and, in 1984, spent a year in Japan with his wife. This year had a marked impact on his work, as the artist drew inspiration from Japanese minimalism.

Choukini’s early works in the 1970s and 1980s were mostly horizontal, depicting bird’s eye memories of landscapes from his village. Humans are absent in these sculptures, but their traces are palpable, symbolizing the relationship between man and nature, for example, in Nu Paysage (1972). Choukini carves Iroko wood to appear simultaneously as a flat landscape and a reclining nude figure, eliding the distinction between soil and flesh as interconnected products of the natural world. Later in his career, he began creating vertical works with a more contemporary feel. Inspired by Japanese minimalism, he removes parts of his sculptures by puncturing them, thus incorporating light and air into his work. In Cheval De Guernica (2012), he depicts a horse as a tribute to Picasso’s Guernica and a reminder of the tragedies of war. The bronze figure is varied in texture, incorporating both smooth and rough surfaces and riddled with window-like openings, which allow a play of light and shadow to form around the sculpture.  

Choukini’s artistic process often begins with a watercolor sketch, and these plans for sculptures can be considered artworks in their own right. Though they are destined to be carved or cast in wood or bronze, the shapes that populate his sketches are not hard and brittle, but instead feature soft hues and minimize dark edges; perhaps these watercolor plans partially explain the artist’s skill in lending an organic softness to the severe geometric shapes of his work. He also produces landscapes in watercolor that deploy a light touch and a dreamy color palette, evoking the hazy mist of memory itself. Désert 5 (1992), for example, is an aquarelle portraying an empty desert with a greyish-yellow background. Choukini’s vision for deserts came from childhood readings of pre-Islamic poetry, as well as his stay in Jordan. After drafting his work, he begins carving and always nearly-completes a sculpture before making another, a process that can take years.

Chaouki Choukini lives and works between Paris and Normandy.

Sources

Abillama, Nour.S & Tomb, Marie. Art From Lebanon: Modern and Contemporary Artists 1880-1975. Lebanon: Wonderful Editions, 2012.

Artistes Contemporains. Accessed April 17, 2019. https://www.artistescontemporains.org/artistes/chaouki-choukini/

“Chaouki Choukini.” Barjeel Art Foundation. Accessed April 15, 2019.https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/lebanon/chaouki-choukini/

أيوب، ديانا. " 'الشعر في الخشب'.. منحوتات تضج بالحياة." الإمارات اليوم. ٢٧ أيلول ٢٠١٦. https://www.emaratalyoum.com/life/culture/2016-09-27-1.932175?ot=ot.PrintPageLayout

Seaman, Anna. "Highlights of Alserkal Avenue's New Art Season." The National. September 19, 2016. Accessed April 17, 2019. https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/highlights-of-alserkal-avenue-s-new-art-season-1.211096?videoId=5766484581001

Kalsi, Jyoti. "Memories in Wood." Gulf News – No.1 in UAE and Dubai for Breaking News, Opinion and Lifestyle. Accessed April 15, 2019. https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/arts-culture/memories-in-wood-1.1915160

Proctor, Rebecca. A. “The Poetry of Wood.”Harper’s BAZAAR Arabia. Autumn, 2016. http://images.gagallery.com/www_gagallery_com/2016_09_Harpers_Bazaar.pdf

“Chaouki Choukini.” Art Dubai. Video File. February 21, 2018. http://www.artdubai.ae/portraits-chaouki-choukini/

Exhibit-E.com. "Exhibitions - Poetry in Wood - Press Release - Green . Art . Gallery." Exhibitions - Poetry in Wood - Press Release - Green . Art . Gallery. Accessed April 15, 2019. http://www.gagallery.com/exhibitions/poetry-in-wood_1/press-release