Moonage Daydream

By Suzanne Révy

“Space: The final frontier…”
~Star Trek

Humans have gazed toward the stars for millennia. What might we find beyond our solar system? Inspired by the Artemis II mission to the moon this past spring,  Moonage Daydream features four artists who are reaching toward the heavens physically and metaphorically. Marky Kauffmann and Molly Lamb imagine the essence and substance of the universe, while Bill Finger and Cassandra Klos bring a down-to-earth sense of wonder to their pictures that are on view at Panopticon Gallery through July 31st, 2026. There is a reception planned for tomorrow night, June 11th from 6 to 8pm.

“Many Planets among the Stars” by Marky Kauffmann, from The Celestial Project, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“The Cosmos” by Marky Kauffmann, from The Celestial Project, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Go into the Sunlight and Sing” by Molly Lamb, from the series Solace in the Stardust, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“All this Light” by Molly Lamb, from the series Solace in the Stardust, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

Employing the magic of chemistry and light-sensitive gelatin silver paper, Marky Kauffmann crafts abstractions that reference orbiting planets and stars in her series “The Celestial Project.” Motivated by grief, Kauffmann embraced Einstein’s idea that “energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed.” She reached for the cosmos hoping to find something of those she was grieving. Molly Lamb’s refractions of light are intimate prints that feel expansive. Her series “Solace in the Stardust” is a meditation on the interconnections between the stars and life on earth. Both artists bring to mind the very building blocks of life. Kauffmann’s compositions are filled with watery swirls or small orbs that could be molecules or cells as seen through a microscope where Lamb infuses scale and texture that seem to reverberate like a twinkling star in heavenly light. Are the cosmos mere cells in an even larger universe?

“Night Launch” by Bill Finger, from the series Ground Control, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“LEM-PAN” by Bill Finger, from the series Ground Control, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Bailey’s Pressurized EVA” by Cassandra Klos, from the series Mars on Earth, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Darkness of the Shackleton” by Cassandra Klos, from the series Mars on Earth, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

Being grounded on earth, but dreaming of the skies has fueled the imaginations of countless future astronauts. Bill Finger’s models in Ground Control are whimsical constructions of spacemen and moon landers in backyards, along with a striking rocket launch made with cotton balls. Building the means to reach past our own atmosphere is a fundamental human impulse, and one also grounded on earth. Finger’s moon lander, after all, made of plywood might make a great tree house as well as an extra-terrestrial abode. In Mars on Earth, Cassandra Klos considers the power of science and fiction to fuel our otherworldly ambitions in a series of pictures made in places where astronauts train. Pressurized suits, harsh conditions coupled with isolation and distant travel is spine-chilling to contemplate, but Klos’s pictures reveal humanity’s reverence for and deep curiosity about the possibilities of expanding our horizons and our minds. 

“Go boldly where no human has gone before!” 

For more information: https://www.panopticongallery.com

(Feature Image) “Home is Here, Home is There, Selene II” by Cassandra Klos, from the series Mars on Earth, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.