Flemish sculptor in France:
Giant works springing from the volcanoes: in the Sancy massif, the art of sublimating nature celebrates its twentieth anniversary
XXL art is back in the volcanoes of the Auvergne. The Horizons « Arts-Nature » event celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Two decades during which contemporary art has transformed the landscapes of the Sancy massif into an open-air gallery.
Source: ‘Le Parisien’ by Geneviève Colonna d’Istria (2026)
One of the best-known and best-loved sculptors of Aarschot.
Wilfried De Cock °1977
WWW.ATELIER-VENUSTAS.BE
Miners’ Sarcophagus Wolfsdonk
2006
The sarcophagus symbolises a coffin in a hollow space underground. A tribute on the 50th anniversary of the Marcinelle mining disaster, which claimed 256 victims.
The Water Strider
2006
bronze
Oude sas De Laak, symbol of the green ribbon running through Aarschot.
“The artworks I make come into being while I am creating, without any prior theory. And in this respect I want to remain honest with myself and not knit a theory onto them afterwards.
The artworks are what they are, and they are finished when they have enough presence or expressive power, without my needing to know what they say.
I am someone who has a need to create; it is a drive within me that I find hard to restrain.
Have I always been an artist, or did I become one?
On the one hand I am inclined to say that I always have been; on the other, I think that “art” simply gives a certain meaning to my life, just as football or tennis gives meaning to the lives of some other people.
So many psychoanalyses of artists have already been made; why not make one of a top athlete?
Wouldn’t these people also start creating with their own bodies out of a certain “emptiness”?
To me, an artist is someone who tries to create something that cannot be captured in words. It is something that can touch you deep inside without any explanation.”
Wilfried De Cock