Ophiuchus (Constellation) 1950

This is Leo Katz’s 'Ophiuchus (Constellation)', made in 1980, where the artist has used a printmaking technique to pull a night sky onto the page, complete with a human figure wrestling a serpent. There's something about the idea of inking up a plate, pressing it onto paper, and pulling up this celestial scene that makes me want to reach out and touch it. I imagine the artist in their studio, squinting at star charts, maybe even stepping outside at night to steal a glance at the heavens. What was it like for them to feel connected to something bigger than themselves, something ancient and unknowable? That figure, wrestling with the serpent—it's not just a literal depiction, it's a metaphor. A metaphor for us mortals grappling with the mysteries of the universe, maybe? For me, the act of creation itself becomes a kind of wrestling match, a back-and-forth between intention and accident. And that's the beauty of it, isn't it?