Wall composition in mirror glass (1984)
Thirty three vertical strips of different widths follow each other over a width of 5.80 metres and a height of 2.23 metres. They are made of narrow ribbons of slightly raised glass, which are arranged obliquely next to each other. Thanks to the light that is captured and reflected by the glass and the movement of the observer, everything around the work is exploded, fragmented and distorted, like a glittering, multifaceted diamond. Anyone taking staircase or the escalator down into the station will be fascinated to see how the whole environment and the observer him or herself is involved in an ever-changing and unfolding game as hundreds of moving, shining pieces and stripes are smashed, fragmented and reflected. Light, space and environment flow together to make up a substantial part of the relief. With his ingenuity, the artist succeeds in making simple mirror glass look as rich as the sparkle of a precious stone.
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MICHEL MARTENS (1921 – 2006)
Michel Martens is a self-taught artist who built up a strong reputation in Belgium and abroad in the 1950s and 60s. He has restored churches destroyed in the war and built new churches, and in both cases he has put together high quality projects which were completely integrated into the architecture of the building. He is the most famous stainedglass window restorer in Flanders. He has studied, analysed and practiced the complicated techniques of glass work. He is completely free as he is not bound by architectural requirements, and being daring is an integral part of his work. He progressively went from using transparent glass to coloured glass, blown glass and finally mirror glass. In 1974 he created his first “mirror objects”: twodimensional works in which the surfaces are slightly raised. The result is a broken surface which sets off the light in all different directions.