Two one man shows were organized at the Old Archaeological Museum of Salonika during the 2001 Dimitria.In his work, Zaharias Koublis combines a craftsman’s skill with an artist’s sensibility. Often, on various types of material, he makes use of the leftovers of human activities. His sun, for example, with its look of the all seeing eye, is nothing but a colander. Rust and ochre earth colours rarely confront an intense red or blue. The artist repeatedly uses two motifs: a steatopygic woman’s form which refers to Neolithic statuettes and to sculptures of the post war period (Arp, Richier, Moore) and a fragmented shape: a fish bone? A wind –up bird? A guitar? Koublis has successfully integrated these recognizable influences in his work.

The sculptures of self-taught Nikos Baharides are the meeting points not just of artists such as Rodin, Caro, Arp, Richier and Moore but also of the art of Neolithic statuettes, Minoan subject matter and woman as the source of life. Baharides depicts the human body, fish and birds in a realistic or abstract manner. He is guided by his use of found materials. The charred pieces of wood left over from fires, are particularly interesting. The burnt piece of olive wood from Thasos creates an Ikaros even more dramatic than that of Rodin.