SYDNEY.- One of Asia-Pacific’s leading contemporary art galleries, Sullivan+Strumpf announced its representation of renowned Colombian Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso.

Born in Bogota, Colombia and based in Sydney, Cardoso is internationally recognised for her inventive sculpture, installation, performance, video and photography, which blend nature, art and science to explore the biological structure of living creatures.

Using research as the basis of her practice, she collaborates with scientists, cinematographers, microscopists, videographers, sound-artists, industrial designers and landscape architects to express inspirations from the natural world in unconventional ways.

Many of her works are long-term projects and present beautifully intricate visualisations of microscopic insights into the geometries within biology, like the Cardoso Flea Circus (1994-2000) series of performances and installations, which internationally toured internationally and was recently acquired by the Tate Modern.

Sullivan+Strumpf, founders and directors, Joanna Strumpf and Ursula Sullivan say they are excited to add Cardoso to their roster.

“We have followed Maria’s career for many years and always admired her continuous experimentation, but it was her recent works with spiders blew us away. Her work is truly ingenious. We are thrilled to welcome her to Sullivan+Strumpf and look forward to showing her work in Australia and Asia,” said Joanna Strumpf.

Sullivan+Strumpf will feature Cardoso’s work at Sydney Contemporary at Carriageworks on 12 – 15 September 2019.

Cardoso’s works are held in numerous collections including the Tate Modern, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Miami Art Museum; Daros Latinamerica, Zurich; and several other major collections in America, Europe, and various regional galleries in Australia.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso's practice reveals the wonder, beauty and astonishing complexity of other life forms. Using research as the basis of her work, she collaborates with scientists, cinematographers, microscopists, videographers, sound-artists, industrial designers and landscape architects to express inspirations from the natural world in unconventional ways. Cardoso’s work has developed through the forms of sculpture, installation, performance, video and photography. Many of her works are long-term projects and present beautifully intricate visualisations of microscopic insights into the geometries within biology, revealing wonders of the natural world.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1963. During the 1990s, she lived in San Francisco, USA where she developed the Cardoso Flea Circus alongside her research into fleas as a pervasive domestic parasite. A simultaneous interest in the behaviour of insects and the phenomenon of camouflage – seen as a parallel to immigrants’ willingness and desire to belong to a new-found community – also informed her work during this period. Cardoso relocated to Sydney in the early 2000s where she now lives and works. Moving to Sydney led her to explore new materials and traditions, specifically from native animals, resulting in projects using sheep’s wool and emu feathers. Her recent practice continues to build on her ongoing long-term projects, focusing on the ‘small’ and the reproductive anatomy of plants in relation to human social-sexual relations.

Cardoso graduated from Yale University with a Masters in Sculpture and Installation in1990 and was awarded her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2012. Her works are held in numerous collections including the Tate Modern, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Miami Art Museum; Daros Latinamerica, Zurich; and several other major collections in America, Europe, and various regional galleries in Australia.

Her group exhibitions include Divided Worlds, Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art, Adelaide (2018); Naked Flora, JamFactory, Adelaide (2018); On the Origins of Art I and II, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart (2016); Contingent Beauty: Contemporary Art from Latin America, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (2015); MoCO: Museum of Copulatory Organs, 18th Sydney Biennale (2012); Volume One, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2012); Dreams and Conflicts – The Viewer’s Dictatorship, 50th Venice Biennial (2003). Her solo exhibitions include Masters of Disguise, Freemantle Arts Centre (2011); Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Death Becomes Her, Chelsea Art Museum (2006); Cardoso Flea Circus, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2000).