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# A Strange Scene of Star Cats and Astronomy
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-strange-scene-of-star-cats-and-astronomy/
- Published: 2014-07-10T19:28:42.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:33:12.000Z
- Description: From a new space in Dumbo's 111 Front Street building, Stephen Romano Gallery is offering a unique mix of art that's contemporary, historic, and unapologetically strange. The second exhibition, Mysterium Cosmographicum, takes the cosmos as its theme, from the mysteries of outer space to the divine i
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Art, Review, Stephen Romano Gallery, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Matthew Dutton, "Hadron Excelsior" (2014), mixed media](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano6.jpg)

Matthew Dutton, “Hadron Excelsior” (2014), mixed media, in Stephen Romano Gallery’s ‘Mysterium Cosmographicum’ (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted)

From a new space in Dumbo’s 111 Front Street building, Stephen Romano Gallery is offering a unique mix of art that’s contemporary, historic, and unapologetically strange. The second exhibition, [*Mysterium Cosmographicum*](http://www.shishigami.com/mysteriumcosmo/?ref=hyperallergic.com), takes the cosmos as its theme, from the mysteries of outer space to the divine impressions given off by distant stars.

![Order of Odd Fellows antique banner](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano4.jpg)

Order of Odd Fellows antique banner

The new gallery location opened back in April with the inaugural group show [*Welcome to Dreamtime*](http://www.shishigami.com/srfa/dream/?ref=hyperallergic.com). *Mysterium Cosmographicum* is similar in that its more than 30 international artists cover just about every shade of the spectrum, from emerging artists to self-taught visionaries to 17th-century scholars. Sharp-toothed grinning cats by Barcelona-based pop surrealist Peca gaze with their moon eyes over a beautiful copy of Romeyn de Hooghe’s arcane symbolism guide “Heiroglyphica of Merkbeelden der oude volkeren” from 1735, while nearby a skull-adorned Order of Odd Fellows banner offers some beautiful texture in its unraveling threads.

By nature of an exhibition with a scope like this, there are highs and lows, but enough intriguing old oddities and trippy new art to warrant a wander. Sure, Vancouver-based Phresha’s “Mind Control Kitty,” which turns Grumpy Cat into a mystical icon, is a little silly, but it also offers an enjoyable counterpart to “Cure: Universal Will,” a painted plaster piece by the self-taught A. Fiorello that shows people burning in the stomach of a three-headed, humanoid beast. Gallery owner Stephen Romano explained that Fiorello’s work was totally unknown during his lifetime, and some of it ended up in second-hand stores, likely unsettling donation sorters with its dark, vivid symbolism.

![Phresha, "Mind Control Kitty" (2014), acrylic on board](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano7.jpg)

Phresha, “Mind Control Kitty” (2014), acrylic on board

![A. Fiorello, "Cure: Universal Will" (date unknown), painted plaster](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano8.jpg)

A. Fiorello, “Cure: Universal Will” (date unknown), painted plaster

Then there are the anonymous and scientific depictions of astronomy, including 1813 star drawings and a detail of a human footprint on the moon. Meanwhile, the contemporary art pops with unexpected imagery, like Italian artist El Gato Chimney’s paintings of animals as hermits and shamans, as well as Brooklyn-based Martin Wittfooth’s unnerving vision of conquering monkeys setting a horse’s mane aflame.

This October, Stephen Romano Gallery will dedicate the whole space to Hollywood photographer William Mortensen, who also had a penchant for [shooting staged scenes of witchcraft](http://50watts.com/Monsters-and-Madonnas-Looking-at-William-Mortensen?ref=hyperallergic.com) with a heavy mix of grotesque sensuality. It will be interesting to see how the spirit of embracing the eccentric corners of art is manifested in a solo show as the gallery continues to inject the esoteric into Dumbo.

![El Gato Chimney, "Hermit of the Stars" (2014), acrylic on canvas; "The Catcher" (2014), acrylic on canvas](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano2.jpg)

El Gato Chimney, “Hermit of the Stars” (2014), acrylic on canvas; “The Catcher” (2014), acrylic on canvas

![Martin Wittfooth "The Passions Sacrifice" 2013](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/thepassionssacrifice.jpg)

Martin Wittfooth, “The Passions Sacrifice” (2013) (image courtesy Stephen Romano Gallery)

![Colin Christian, "Half Pint" (2014), mixed media sculpture](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano5.jpg)

Colin Christian, “Half Pint” (2014), mixed-media sculpture

![Kris Kuksi, "Seraphim at Rest" (2013), mixed media sculpture](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano3.jpg)

Kris Kuksi, “Seraphim at Rest” (2013), mixed-media sculpture

![Romeyn de Hooghe, "Hieroglyphica of Merkbeelden der oude volkeren" (1735)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/cosmicromano1.jpg)

Romeyn de Hooghe, “Hieroglyphica of Merkbeelden der oude volkeren” (1735)

![Peca "Hopi Dream - Miracle" 2014](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/pecahopidream.jpg)

Peca, “Hopi Dream – Miracle” 2014 (image courtesy Stephen Romano Gallery)

[Mysterium Cosmographicum](http://www.shishigami.com/mysteriumcosmo/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at Stephen Romano Gallery (111 Front Street, Suite 208, Dumbo, Brooklyn) through August 30\.*