The Astronomy collection visualizes how scientific imaging translates phenomena outside the visible spectrum into images we can perceive. Drawing on astrophotography and false-color imagery circulated through sources such as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, these multilayered oil paintings are maps of unimaginable extensive spaces that consider perception and the visual construction of knowledge. Color becomes information and material, connecting astronomical observation with the physical act of painting.

Working at this intimate scale brings vast celestial structures into proximity with our human bodies. Layers of pigment give distant, technologically mediated phenomena a tactile presence, preserving the gesture and surface of paint. The works’ intricate detail and jewel-like colors reference Baroque and Rococo traditions of precious objects and cultivated wonder. Like Netherlandish still lifes gathering flowers from distant places and different seasons, these paintings bring far-flung celestial bodies together against dark grounds.