FROM SAND, ARTWORKS IN GLASS – Jan Fabre, Shitting Doves of Peace and Flying Rats

If you’re in Milan why not head to BUILDINGBOX for some Berengo art in glass?
BUILDINGBOX is focusing its 2019-2020 season on contemporary art in glass with the project “From sand, artworks in glass”, an exhibition in 12 parts with new art featured every month, curated by BUILDING in collaboration with Jean Blanchaert. The latest artist in this innovative exhibition series is none other than Belgian artist Jan Fabre. Fabre has featured in a number of our Glasstress exhibitions, showing his work in Beirut, New York, Stockholm and Riga. In fact the piece now on display in Milan was previously shown in the Louvre in Paris during 2008 as well as our 2019 Glasstress show.
Although its title might shock at first – “Shitting Doves of Peace and Flying Rats” (2008) – the work uses the power of language to highlight its subjects. The dove is traditionally a holy creature, a sign of the holy spirit, peace, an oracle. By contrast the “Flying Rats” of the sky are the neglected pigeons, the vermin of the cities, birds that are not revered but ridiculed. Contrary to what their respective titles might imply it is the “rats” that fly in this vision and the visions of peace that sit idly by.
Both birds are depicted by Fabre in a bold blue hue which uses blue bic ink applied directly onto glass to create its vivid colour. So what marks these creatures apart from each other Fabre seems to ask his audience – what divides them other than their histories? How the world treats them is in part due to the stories that have been told about them for years. The stories we tell matter. Fabre’s work often revolves around the concept of the human world as an animal world in which life takes surprising forms. In his shocking glass sculpture Fabre introduces a new perspective of these creatures recast from the natural world. He opens up a dialogue about how we view the animals around us. In an ever-evolving environment it’s useful to examine the natural world with a new lens, through glass, Fabre provides just that.