THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

       Images and art are typically opaque with pigment, dense depictions of objects or impressions of the un-representable, paradoxically becoming more mesmerising when the medium used is as translucent and profane as glass, a material possessing ghostly qualities beyond its commonplace applications.
       While exhibitions of glass art are not unusual in many countries, they are unheard of in Thailand, so the first two glass exhibitions by Thai artists are almost historic events or at least milestones in the making of Thai art history.
       The second of the two shows is now open at PSG Art Gallery, Silpakorn University. Titled "Our Best Recent Work and Glass Art Project: the 26th Art Exhibition by Members of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts",it contains many of the works created during a recent project by the faculty to establish the skills, techniques and technologies required for glass art production in Thailand.
       Held from March to May at Silpakorn's Sanam Chand campus in Nakhon Pathom, the workshop focused on training teachers from around the country in both warm glass and cold forming techniques. The initial showing of the workshop's output was simply titled "Glass Exhibition" and was held from August 17 to September 4 at Sanam Chand campus.
       A course designed to "train the trainer", it produced extremely innovative work, perhaps because none of the some 60 art teachers were familiar with the millennium-old traditions or schools in the glass art movement established elsewhere. Nevertheless, the work was of international quality.
       If the response of the students, who flooded to attend the Sanam Chand opening, is anything to judge by, the future of glass art in Thailand is transparently bright. Substantial financial backing by sponsors including Loctite,Glass Dec and Ferro also indicates the medium has great potential to develop and benefit a new generation of artists.
       The current show at Na Phralan cam-pus allows some of Thailand's most accomplished practitioners to express themselves using a material none had previously tried until participating in the workshop. Artists of the calibre of National Artist Nonthivathn Chandhanaphalin and Panya Vijinthanasarn have put down their spatulas and paintbrushes and have begun fusing, foiling and staining glass, exploring the almost unlimited possibilities glass possesses.
       While not all the work in the exhibition is glass, the installation in the centre of the gallery is made up of a series of 30cm x 30cm glass panels contributed by each of the artists. Framed by a circle of stainless steel, the installation, which has been purchased by Kasikornbank PLC, demonstrates the versatility and natural beauty of the material.
       Another example of the glasswork on show is Krisana Honguten's Golden Lotus on Starry Night which fuses materials with different properties including glass,wood, gold leaf and carborundum to portray the sky at night. Krisana's piece,painterly in its execution, warmly expresses the artist's vision with textural vitality.
       In A Little Bit of Passion Can Refine Our Mind , Panya Vijinthanasarn recreates his signature representation of the Buddha gazing down from the top right corner of the work which he has famously replicated many times in gold leaf and paint, only here he has sandblasted his impression across six framed
       panels of clear glass.
       On the other hand,Surapon Saenkham has been inspired by the architecture of Italy, famous for its long history of glass art as evinced by the innumerable stained glass windows to be found in the country's cathedrals and churches. His Fi-renze Italy successfully captures the glory and splendour of those medieval and Renaissance monuments.
       Glass maintains a fascination with the human mind because it accompanied humanity as numinous ornaments throughout the Palaeolithic period and thus has a symbolic power. Glass is simply sand transformed through fire into a substance so sublime as to become a metaphor or mirror for our own evolution from the archaic to the civilised, or unconscious into conscious.
       The alchemical character of glass art will continue to captivate Thailand, and the glass seed now planted here in the hearts of so many art educators will crystallise at Silpakorn University and grow at art schools across the country,burgeoning in the years to come as a new branch of contemporary Thai art.
       "Our Best Recent Work and Glass Art Project:26th Art Exhibition by Members of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts" is on show until October 9 at PSG Art Gallery,Silpakorn University, Na Phra Lan campus.Open Monday to Saturday,10am to 6pm.Call 02-221-0820.