Vargas-Suarez Universal, Celestial Mechanics, 2017, porcelain mosaic tile, PS/IS 191 Riverside School for Makers and Artists, Manhattan

Artist Vargas-Suarez Universal created two artworks for PS/IS 191 Riverside School for Makers and Artists in Manhattan, Celestial Mechanics and Panorama.  
 
On the lobby ceiling as you enter the school is Celestial Mechanics, a series of eight round oil on canvas paintings installed in circular light coves. The paintings range in diameter from 34 inches to 82 inches and reference lunar and solar eclipses, celestial motion and the sky. The artist considered the circular coves as small observatories or planetariums for viewers to gaze up at. The paintings use the language of geometric abstraction and fresco painting. Vargas-Suarez hopes that people will look up at the paintings, as if looking up at the sky, and ponder the relationship between art and science.