For Spring/Summer 2004 and through to the period of the Olympic Games, Els Hanappe Underground is introducing two Brussels based artists.

Koen Wastijn for years has been working with animals, reflecting on their use and abuse in the commercial world. This runs from company branding that uses animals as symbols, such as Jaguar, Puma, or le Coq Sportif, to the actual use of animals for end products, including furs and pharmaceuticals. The artist does local research on animal behavior and appearance, be it in Australia or Greenland, and collects naturally deceased animals for the use of their bodies, skins, and skeletons to make sculptures and moulds.

Nicolas Kozakis is more concerned with local materials and traditional skills. For the 'Espace Wallonie' in central Brussels, he researched the available raw materials of the region, for example stone, marble, and metals, and applied them to make subtle interventions in the building. For his Athens show, the artist will exhibit an example of such an architectural intervention, replacing the orthodox icon with an aluminum plate fit into the wall and painted over with a well-known car paint into a glossy monochrome. A series of black-and-white photographs show the intrusion of human being into the landscape through the images of a quarry that cuts out the famous Greek white marble, and the physical beauty of the stone. Both artists critically observe the attitude of humans in dealing with the rest of what nature has on offer. They do not shun away from using traditional materials or techniques, such as bronze casts or marble sculptures that are heavily connoted but do so in a contemporary and lighthearted way.



With the kind support of Flemish and French Communities of Belgium