Starburst cluster NGC 3603 (courtesy NASA Hubble Telescope via Hubble Highlights Flickr)
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who know astrology is real, and those who manage to muddle through somehow, unguided by the stars. Both, though, can appreciate the rich narratives, visual and textual, that accompany esoteric divinatory and interpretive practices, from the moods and temperaments of the gods that shape Greek astrology, to the allegorical labyrinths of the Tarot.
Ever a master of the oblique and inscrutable connection, David Hammons has curated a wonderfully strange exhibition, Charles White — Leonardo da Vinci, on view at MoMA through January 3. White, a legendary Los Angeles drawing teacher to a generation of students, including Hammons, shared with Leonardo both a nearly religious devotion to drawing and a natal chart situated in the first half of April. In addition to drawings by both artists, a focal point of the exhibition is a Vedic natal chart for each: “By presenting their destinies as written in the stars, Hammons shifts our attention from the gallery to the galaxy.”
This Sunday at MoMA, PopRally hosts “An Evening of Art and Astrology,” a conversation between astrologer Alice Sparkly Kat, artist Cristy C. Road, and exhibition organizer Esther Adler, looking at “creativity and community through the lens of astrology and Tarot.” The talk will be followed by a self-guided tour of the galleries featuring a brochure with Sparkly Kat’s astrology analysis and Road’s artwork.
Mercury’s in retrograde, so plan to get there early and head straight for the open bar.
When: Sunday, December 17, 7 pm
Where: The Museum of Modern Art (11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan)
More info and tickets ($20, $18 for members) here
