Night Sky #2

A dense field of white points scattered across a matte black surface: this is the night sky reduced to its most elemental terms, stripped of horizon, landmarks, and any sense of scale. There are no constellations to name, no moon to orient the viewer, no atmospheric haze to suggest distance. The painting hovers between representation and abstraction, a photographic image painstakingly reconstructed through layer upon layer of oil paint, each coat sanded smooth before the next is applied.

Celmins began her Night Sky series in the early 1980s, working from photographs to create images that are simultaneously hyper-realistic and profoundly abstract. The built-up, sanded surfaces give the paintings a tactile density that photographs cannot achieve, transforming the infinite depth of space into a flat, physical object. The viewer oscillates between seeing stars in a void and seeing white marks on a dark surface.

Night Sky #2 belongs to the early phase of this long-running series, which Celmins continued to develop over three decades. Her meticulous process — building up and sanding down dozens of layers — results in surfaces that seem to absorb light rather than reflect it, creating an almost velvet quality. The work is held at the Art Institute of Chicago.