It’s an honored tradition for artists to take inspiration from — and reinterpret — other artists’ work. That’s what Maria Smits has done with the altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a 1432 piece by Jan and Hubert van Eyck. Given that this is almost 600 years later, Smits’s installation at Lawndale Art Center is decidedly different from the original. Smits’s work is called The Adoration of the Mystic Dog, which hints at the liberties she took with the original Adoration. According to her press materials, Smits plays with the fact that the words “god” and “dog” are reversals of each other, toying with the idea of opposites that are somehow also the same. See her sculpture, constructed from foam rubber and polystyrene, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Through January 15. 4912 Main. For information, call 713-528-4140 or visit www.lawndaleartcenter.org. Free.

Mondays-Saturdays. Starts: Nov. 19. Continues through Jan. 15, 2010

This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.