Story Telling With Sculpture -- by Susan Price
You might well have heard of the Kennis brothers before. If you have, never mind. An excuse to look at their work again is always a good thing. The Kennis brothers, Adrie and Alfons, are unsettlingly identical Dutch twins. They refuse to call themselves artists, though they are. They are also anatomists and anthropologists and they create the most startlingly original portraits of ancient people that I’ve ever seen. I was unaware of their work until my brother (and illustrator) Andrew, started outgrabing about a programme we were watching. It had one of those forensic recreations based on a medieval skull. The result always looks much the same, whatever skull is being used: a bland, expressionless face, rather like that of a shop-window dummy. “Don’t waste our time!” Andrew said. “Send for the Kennis brothers! There should be a law that only the Kennis brothers are allowed to do reconstructions!" I had never heard of the brothers Kennis, but once directed to their web...