Antoine Berberi, modeller of monumental forms
Portrait signed Zéna Zalzal, subtitled « He would like to be known as the sculptor of movement ». In front of his studio-foundry in Dbayeh, where « a rusty iron Phoenix stands guard », the artist explains that he always conceives his works with a monumental outlook: « I am not a static sculptor. » The article traces his beginnings: at about twelve, on a balcony in Achrafieh, he discovers a neighbouring sculptor shaping a clay head, a spark that prompts him to take up modelling. He then studies in Paris under Hubert Yencesse, chief restorer of French historic monuments, associated with the restoration of the Arc de Triomphe. Berberi makes a distinction there between two approaches to his art: « the figuration of form and the figuration of the spirit. » Two commissions under way are detailed: a 4.25-metre stainless steel Saint Charbel for Ontario, Canada, and the statue of Sheikh Béchara El-Khoury, then being finished, as well as a bronze monument inspired by a Phoenician trireme, « Au Premier Marin et à l'Alphabet » (To the First Sailor and the Alphabet), intended for the Amchit coast.
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