Most of everything has changed over Charles Ross' 70-year career. Since his first solo sculpture exhibit at the Dilexi Gallery in 1961, art has borne witness to and been shaped by overseas wars, worldwide peace movements, the birth of modern technology, multiple epidemics and the current-day pursuit of individualism in an oversaturated world. Anything dependable and constant ultimately fades into something else, unless one takes the initiative to grab on and cherish it. Ross’ art is built around these constants — the natural world around us, and the celestial world beyond. His work breathes life into sunlight, starlight and planetary motion, capturing his significant mark on the land art movement. 

In a culmination of Ross’ artistic journey, the Harwood Museum of Art presents Charles Ross: Mansions of the Zodiac. Showing from March 15 to September 7, the exhibition embodies Ross’ exploration of time and light, including never-exhibited works that allow audiences to fully  embrace Ross’ entanglement with space. 

One may say the stars aligned for Ross’ work to display at the museum in New Mexico, a state which has long been an inspiration for many land artists. New Mexico’s wide deserts and rich grasslands provide artists the space to experiment with the natural and astrological worlds, becoming a landmark for the land art movement following its emergence in the 1960s.

At the heart of the exhibition are the 12 "Mansions of the Zodiac" star map paintings, initially created between 1976 and 1978, reworked in 2012 and shown for the first time this year. Each painting depicts the positions of the stars within the zodiac signs and tracks their journey through the equinoxes, testifying to Ross’ meticulousness and respect for space’s natural movements. This piece, coupled with Ross’ use of prisms, sandstone and photography, manifest his keen ability to withdraw nuance from something as infinite and mystifying as space.