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The Nature of Art

A A A Comments By Troy Schulze Thursday, May 4 2006

The manipulation of nature is a central theme in the artwork of Maria Fernanda Cardoso. In 2000, she brought the Cardoso Flea Circus to town. The video, which was presented at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, featured Cardoso, wearing a silver lamé cape and magnifying glasses, manipulating wire-harnessed fleas through a series of stunts by using a flashlight or her own breath.

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Sicardi Gallery, known for its focus on Latin American artists, features an exhibition of Cardoso's visual art, which is no less exploitative of nature. The works incorporate butterfly wings and antennae (and even tongues), starfish, sea horses, cow bones and dried frogs to create kaleidoscopic patterns, swirling circles and orbs that seem frozen in time, archival. In the sideshow sense, Cardoso has taken these specimens and given them a legendary aura. There's even a biblical impression in the exhibit: One object, a 12-inch ring of connecting sea horses, resembles a crown of thorns. Many artists use "dead" materials to create sculpture that beguiles and explores existing forms in nature. Cardoso almost manages to bring her materials back to life.
Thu., May 4, 6-8 p.m.; May 4-27

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