Star Maker 

Curator: Oh, I find this utterly mesmerizing. There's something so deeply internal and dreamlike about the scene. Editor: It definitely evokes a feeling of isolation. What are we looking at exactly? Curator: This is "Star Maker," by Remedios Varo. The artist used colored pencil and gouache for this miniature allegory. The effect creates this haunting quality in an almost unreal place. Editor: "Star Maker"—that is interesting. So, immediately I read the artist as an allegorical figure, perhaps a depiction of creative labor or even gendered intellectual work. The figure is self-contained within what almost looks like a fortified alchemical lab? Is it supposed to be mobile, perhaps a vessel adrift in the universe? The stars that the figure conjures become…the byproduct of some strange and lonely manufacture? Curator: The machinery definitely takes me there. But for me, it goes back to how we use these images, these symbols. Birdcages often represent the soul or confinement, the lamp maybe enlightenment, or the human connection to divine forces that power the mechanism—the link between mind and creativity? And of course the figure is making stars—the literal stars themselves—but it seems to tap into much more significant cultural reservoirs around alchemy and spiritual practice and scientific processes, as well. It suggests a deep sense of wonder about the universe and how we engage it. Editor: Yes, it's curious to think about who and what benefits from this act. Is she sharing this light? Or hoarding it? There is an undeniably privileged element to this that asks a lot of how power functions when knowledge and information are tightly controlled. Who gets access? Curator: True. The stairs leading up from the smoky clouds definitely adds to the sense of detachment from earthly concerns and that raises ethical concerns too. Varo seemed fascinated by revealing those unseen but essential powers that move the universe, making these images meaningful. "Star Maker" seems timeless because these symbolic frameworks continue to resonate, in new forms but tapping the same fundamental anxieties or ecstasies. Editor: Precisely. For me, the painting provokes questions about knowledge production. What impact might those insights have had, historically or culturally? How has gender shaped how those narratives are interpreted? Curator: This image for me is less about history, and more about what the artist leaves for future visionaries, and what impact these symbols and narratives could have. It's interesting to ponder these symbolic tools in light of their contemporary implications. Editor: Absolutely, I think we’ve unearthed the work's rich, if complicated, power to stimulate those necessary reflections.