ABOUT

Throughout time, artists have used nature as a motivation for creating different forms of art. Nature can provide endless forms of inspiration, and it can be a critical theme in many forms of artwork. Ghandi Bou Diab is an artist who possesses nature. He identifies himself with her rhythm, by efforts that elevated the mastery which enabled him to express himself in his own language. He used nature within his creations, such as wood, clay, water, and stone, which are all-natural mediums.

 

In the town of Al-Jahlieh EL-Chouf three decades ago, the career of a talented young man began, who loved poetry as well as sculpture and painting. With it he discovered in his village a cave dating back to the Ottoman era nearly 400 years ago. The cave is three cellars of nodes adjacent to an area of 1500 square meter with the surrounding heritage garden.

 

He started a rehabilitation workshop for the cave, In his process, he discovered an additional cave in the form of narrow cave whose walls are two meter wide by a height of one and half meters. So, he worked on excavating the rock to a depth of one meter and a half in an artistic way to open the place without compromising its twisted rocky floor and preserving the historical features of the layout.

 

Ghandi restored the traditional cellars to the “Cave of the Arts” in its current form, decorated with Ghandi’s oil paintings that are inspired by the cradle of years of work and fatigue. These great accomplishments were transformed from the life of the Lebanese village with its characters and customs, in addition to artistic sculptures, he used the roots on ancient trees and made them expressing painting. He was able to bring aspects of nature to life in his paintings. His work has allowed people to understand nature in different forms and bring people together.

 

However, Ghandi did not stop there, and still dreams of future projects that make the “Cave of  the Arts” a space that does not know boredom and routine, and hardly a day passes when he does not build a stone wall, an earthen corridor, or an ancient fireplace. A new vault has been completed in the form of a train, which craters in the roof like a chimney crown equipped with stained glass the reflects the movement of the sun and color lighting inside.

 

This, along with tunnels of rocks, earthen tunnels and corridors of mountain stone, will lead you to a library that has been transformed into a cultural cell for collecting literary and intellectual encyclopedias and a place for holding cultural, musical and other retreats.

 

It is not possible to visit “Cave of the Arts” without tasting the cuisine of the local Lebanese village, he built ovens of clay to grill and cook village food and municipal Manouche. This is in addition to the fruit trees he planted in the cave garden and its surroundings, considering the environment diversity that brings together 40 species of trees and plants. What makes this place more magnificent and diverse are the fish farms, which Ghandi was keen to leave a warm space among these natural and artistic masterpieces.

 

There is really something worth visiting for what an artist accomplishes with rare individual abilities, talent, motivation, and most importantly, a firm resolve to innovate despite the crises the country is going through, in a courageous model of resilience with arts, construction, culture and beauty.