Belgian exhibition juxtaposes historic works with glass panels by Judith Schaechter, Wim Delvoye, an

Judith Schaechter, You Are Here, 2007. Stained glass, sandblasted, engraved, vitreous paint; assembled with copper foil. H 37, W 26 in. courtesy: the artist

Visitors to the Glazen Huis – Flemish Center for Contemporary Glass Art in Lommel, Belgium, can see subversive stained glass windows, precise geometric wall panels, photographs of Ziegfeld girls suspended in glass, hyperrealistic mosaic portraits, and much more in just one ambitious exhibition, “THE GLASS CANVAS – Glass as a canvas, a carrier through history.” It joins the bold, often dark work of contemporary glass artists such as Judith Schaechter, Wim Delvoye, Maria Dukers, Lada Semecká, Sybille Peretti, Andrea Salvador, Judith Röder, and Deborah Sandersley, among others, with centuries-old stained glass windows, verre églomisé pieces, glass medallions, antique mirrors, and glass negatives.

Wim Delvoye, Calliope, 2001-2002. Steel, X-ray photographs, glass, lead. H 78 3/4, W 31 1/2 in. courtesy: Wim Delvoye

In his exhibition notes, curator Jeroen Maes describes the show as “a meeting between old and new in a glass context of religion, architecture, art, and entertainment,” and “a series of confrontations of the glass canvas” in both physical and psychological terms. These confrontations allow for unusual intersections, such as the De kruisiging van Christus (“The Crucifixion of Christ”), a stained glass work on loan from the Church of Saint Gummarus in Lier, Belgium, and Delvoye’s provocative Calliope, one of nine pieces for which he incorporated X-rays ? sometimes of couples having sex ? into stained glass works. The archway and use of stained glass evoke religious works typical of Catholic churches, but Calliope subverts the genre by referencing a Greek muse instead of a saint and depicting mirrored skeleton wrapped in chains with handcuffs over their heads, not haloes. Schaechter’s You Are Here also draws from traditional stained glass windows, portraying a reclining female figure, perhaps dreaming, maybe dead, in a crucifixion pose under a starry cosmos.

Michael Janis, Memory is a House, 2010. Kilnformed glass with glass powder imagery, steel. H 12 1/2, W 12 1/1 in. courtesy: the artist