BEIRUT, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- In a craft studio overlooking a vast plain, Lebanese artist Aref Abu Latif spends hours working with clay to create masterpieces that imitate well-known international religious, political, military and artistic figures.
Abu Latif, whose professional and creative work revives Lebanese folklore, is the only artist in Lebanon who uses clay in his sculptures.
The 70-year-old artist, who has devoted himself in work for more than half a century, has created hundreds of sculptures that have reached other countries.
Abu Latif told Xinhua that he obtained in 1975 a higher degree in arts from a university in Brazil and started his artistic career by drawing on paper and then he worked on clay sculpting.
"Sculpting is a creative art that can be performed on rocks, minerals, ceramics, wood, eggs and rice grains, but I was mostly attracted by using clay in my work," Abu Latif told Xinhua.
The artist said that he collects white and brown clay from a lake near his home after it dries and from the nearby towns of Rachaya al Fakhar and Dahr el Ahmar where the clay is characterized for its high quality.
He pointed out that what distinguishes sculpting on clay is the ease of adapting it with equipment that facilitates the process of trimming and removing appendages, in addition to iron bars that contribute to the consistency and fixation of the sculpture.
Abu Latif explained that clay sculpting is a complicated kind of art that requires great craftsmanship and a lot of patience.
"The art of sculpting with clay is an innovation that allows us to use the bounties of nature to turn them into sculptures," he said.
Abu Latif collects his works of about 250 sculptures in a small exhibition room in his house, indicating that he sold hundreds of them in Lebanon and abroad with prices ranging between 200 U.S. dollars and 5,000 U.S. dollars.
He explained that the subjects of his sculptures and statues represent traditional Lebanese countryside figures, including the guard, farmer, baker, old Lebanese princes from the 18th and 19th centuries, philosophers, writers, and poets.
Painter Chawki Dalal told Xinhua that Abu Latif's sculpting formula combines meditation and inspiration linked to cultural heritage.
"Sculpting on clay is considered one of the ancient fine arts, which ancient civilizations used for social, religious and cultural purposes," he said.
Dalal added that Abu Latif preserves the natural color of the raw material of the clay without any artificial decorations, while working with it in a professional and meticulous manner in a way that reflects reality, symbol and history.
It is worth noting that the Syndicate of Painters and Sculptors, which was founded in Lebanon in 1962, contains about 43 sculptors who are distinguished by their diversity in plastic arts, which gives sculptures in Lebanon a distinctive and special feature.
