NASA would appreciate San Francisco’s new show of velvet artworks

Velvet as an artist material is perhaps most often associated with those chintzy black-velvet paintings of classic Cadillacs and Elvis. In the deft hand of Bermudian-Californian artist Soleé Darrell, though, the fabric soaks in new resonance and depth – literally, as it invites you to peer into the mind-bending stretches of space and time that define our very universe.

Darrell’s work with silk velvet, enhanced with vivid dyes and oddments like boat rope and found trimmings, is the subject of a new exhibition at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora, “Soleé Darrell: Cosmic Ceremony.” Opening Dec. 18, the show explores the artist’s obsession with who we are and where we come from, in terms that NASA might appreciate.

The intensely hued, warped and blended fabrics recall something captured by the Hubble Telescope – exploding supernovae, merging galaxies, colorful nebulae and the birth of new stars. If the vibe seems alien, the message is very human. “She uses layers of mixed media to symbolize the healing of wounds and maps the unknown paths we take in life,” according to the museum. “She is forever fascinated with the idea of things we can never know about our existence, and the self-inflicted suffering that human beings can endure through generations of trying to figure it out.”

Details: On view 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday from Dec. 18, 2024-Feb. 2, 2025 at 685 Mission St., San Francisco; $15 general admission (free every second Saturday), moadsf.org