Hello there, Good evening and welcome to another edition of
The Very Late Show with me, Brooks McDoggie and tonight we kick off with a special guest, a man(?) who is responsible for having incited a mild furore all around the world with his controversial air sculptures.
Though Farook Imafarce has been creating art ever since he was a child with decorative garments made out of papaya peels, he was a late bloomer when it came to sculpting. In fact, he did not start sculpting until he was 87 years old, after a trip to a local animal shelter in Cairo (he was mistaken for an escaped overgrown koala bear) ignited a new passion.
He’s 88 now.
Upon his return home to Aleppo, Syria, he discovered air, till up to that point in his life he’d never knew or heard of what air was("
And I breathe for the first time in my life at 87!" the maestro has said upon this great revelation), He later realized Aleppo was blessed with air(lots of it) therefore, providing ample raw material for his new-found passion. His inspiration, however, would come from having spent over 40 years of studying, experimenting with and selling powerful homemade toilet cleaners.
HOST: Welcome to the show Farook. You are a sculptor, and your medium is… marble? Wood? Bronze? Pillows?
FAROOK: …It’s
air.
HOST: Why…
air?
FAROOK: Well, it’s where I’m from… Aleppo. There’s absolutely nothing to do in Aleppo or all of Syria unless if you’re a tree who are the most productive and the only things who have got stuff to do in Syria. The only significant thing we have is air.
and poor human rights.
HOST: What about Bashar al-Assad?
FAROOK: This just in… he’s crap and hence, has no importance to anyone, unless if you are a fly who are also the only productive things and also the busiest in Syria because flies happen to like crap and there’s a lot of crap over there.
The maestro at work, doing a live piece with live models.
HOST: Your critics say you are a phony, but are also widely considered to be the world’s greatest air sculptor. How do you feel about that?
FAROOK: Now, now, people just pass it as
air, but I’d like to assert that, there’s more to my art than just air(although it
is air) Its not to be taken lightly, especially since Syrian air is so heavy; always filled with TNT, Napalm, Bashar al-Assad’s ego and what not!
HOST: I imagine it to be a rather difficult medium to work with...
FAROOK: Oh it
is!
There's always a great risk of you inhaling your own work! (
Laughs)
The following pictures of my works clearly illustrates how much of an effort I put in them…
"18 Lebanese nymphs drowning in a jar of Papaya jam"
One of Farook's most famous works.
Syrian admirers of the maestro have noted the work for its exceptional beauty, the exquisite details and its graceful form, while his Lebanese critics greatly protested for portraying the Lebanese women less manly.
HOST: I've noticed that Papayas are a recurring theme in your works...
FAROOK: Papayas are a very important part of Syrian life, infact even Papayas also are amongst the only productive few things in Syria and have got things to do
.
"My dear Abdula"
This simple yet powerful work named after his neighbour's goat has been acclaimed by many regional leaders and the public majority for it's explicitly erotic portrayal of a goat. Western critics have criticized it for the subject being a "boy goat". According to rumours, the work is inspired by and based upon the maestro's own true unreciprocated love for his neigbhour's goat.
The goat was unavailable to comment.
HOST: You have done many works for celebrities?
FAROOK: Yes, yes, I did a portrait of Stevie Wonder . Stevie was particularly delighted with the astounding likeliness of the statue. One for
Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam,
Cat Yusuf loved it too. I also did one for William Shatner, but he was greatly displeased with the work as he felt that I didn’t do justice or capture the beauty of his jawline correctly…
I would like to go on record and make it clear that I rather
did…
nail… the jawline flawlessly… regardless of what Mr. Shatner thinks. As the following picture which I brought along to share will clearly reveal…
(Picture of Mr.Shatner for reference included)
As you can see here, I think I rather…
nailed… the jawline perfectly regardless of what Mr. Shatner thinks.
HOST: Oh my god! Fascinating! William Shatner
has a jawline?
Or a Hairline
HOST: We’ll be back after these few messages so stay tuned in…
Introducing…
HOST: Welcome back, let’s continue…
What’s the one medium that you won’t ever work with?
FAROOK: Wind.
...
And also cucumbers.
HOST: And with that it’s time to end tonight’s show and I’d like to thank you Farook for sharing with us your art(?) and we wish you all the best for your future ventures…
FAROOK: Thank you Brooks.
HOST: That's it for tonight folks, I'm your host Brooks McDoggie, see you guys later, Goodnight!
---
The artist is currently working on a 50 ft tall statue commissioned by the
BMC to be placed
over in front of the
V.T in
Bombay as a symbol of the civic organization’s contribution towards the city’s municipal progress.
The maestro working on his current project.
An artistic representation of the statue when complete.
