| 'This brown one,' he tells me, 'is over ten years | | | | have studied them in my big book and in films and |
| old. She has a good time here until she dies of | | | | once I have them in my mind I know all about |
| heart failure', he quips.I had parked my car at the | | | | them. Look around you, my animals, dogs, |
| Stone Grill Restaurant near Karaoglanoglu and | | | | donkey, rabbits, ducks, and my birds, I have |
| walked along an alley of stone statues standing | | | | learnt from them, I know how they function.' |
| guard for the man I have come to interview, a | | | | What about your human figures, have you also |
| legendary artist in many disciplines. A skilled | | | | studied them as closely? 'Oh yes I have, the |
| carpenter - perhaps you have one of his carved | | | | human body has always been one of my main |
| chests or mirrors in your house. He was once an | | | | concerns through all my life. You know, I have |
| acrobat in the circus and for the past 30 years he | | | | been exercising mine every single day of my life, |
| expresses himself as a sculptor and artist in | | | | and it had thrilled me so much that I become an |
| questions of life. I stopped at a huge uncut piece | | | | acrobat. 'Yes, I can see that, his ladies are all very |
| of stone, put my hand out to touch it. Ali sees | | | | fit and, if I may say so, very acrobatic. |
| the question in my eyes. 'I buy my stone from a | | | | I want to know more. What kind of tools is he |
| place in the mountains near Gazimagosa . They | | | | using? When I look at these huge pieces of nearly |
| put fire in the belly of the mountain and out come | | | | two square metersl wonder how he cuts them |
| pieces like this one. It is like a birth. Not every | | | | into a workable size? Does he use electrical |
| piece is suited for my work. So, when I have to | | | | power? |
| choose from them, I use my axe to check the | | | | 'What, oh no, never' he declares. 'My tools are |
| life in them and I listen to the sound, the song of | | | | very simple, here is the axe to cut the shape |
| stone, I call it. When the stone sings to me, I take | | | | roughly and then I decide how to go from here. |
| it. I like the stone to give me some resistance, | | | | When I do a wild animal, I continue with the axe |
| when the sound is dull, nothing will come out of it.' | | | | but when I do ladies, I use finer tools. Often I |
| Firestone and sandstone, these are the types of | | | | make the tools myself to use them for a certain |
| stone he selects for his 'pictures'. He tells me that | | | | pattern. The direction of the cut is very |
| firestone has a finer grain while sandstone is | | | | important, also the impact. It all makes the stone |
| somewhat coarser and both are fine material to | | | | alive. I make scratches, punctures, waves by just |
| cut and to work with. 'come with me,' he | | | | using the proper tool, and for the final touch I use |
| beckoned, ' I will show you. This lady, I am | | | | a brush to polish it or I use sandpaper.''And then', |
| working on now, is made of firestone. You see, | | | | he giggles, ' you can rub some earth onto the |
| how finely you can work the surface? And here, | | | | surface to make it look very old, and also, if you |
| this lion fighting, is made of sandstone too.' Yes, I | | | | have time, you can bury the piece for a couple of |
| can feel the difference.I follow him and touch the | | | | months and the Department of Antiquity will |
| surface of his sculptures that seen so human, so | | | | never believe that you have made it yourself'. I |
| simple in expression and motion. You can see the | | | | ask Ali if he also teaches sculpture. 'Sometimes.' |
| way his mind works, he is in no way complicated | | | | And then I ask him timidly whether he would take |
| things. His love for animals becomes evident and I | | | | me on as a student. ' You tell me, when you are |
| ask him how he has studied their anatomy. ' I | | | | ready and I will teach you the song of the stone. |