IT'S NOT THE SIZE THAT MATTERS IT IS SHAPE

From the creator of the CARDOSO FLEA CIRCUS, the internationally renowned artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso recently presented the extraordinary exhibition, ‘It’s not the size that matters it is shape”, a collection of the weird and wonderful world of the private parts of small creatures. 

Maria is well known for her unconventional use of materials and her ability to embrace new technology, her work is exhibited in major museums and galleries in the Australia, US, Latin America, Europe.

The Microsculptures, printed by 3D System Asia-Pacific's 3D Printing technology has been described as complex and intricate organic and formally beautiful objects, a technological, scientific and artistic feat presented for the first time to the public to admire.  

Maria Fernanda, or better known as Professor Cardoso, says: “We think we have seen it all… we are wrong!” With an eye for the small and the unusual, her artworks of snail, fleas, weevil, mite, harvestman and microbat genitalia have been transformed into a landscape of investigative awe and wonder.    

To make this body of work she has become an artist researcher: “My aim is to become a world’s expert on animal genitalia, and to create an art and science museum of reproductive morphology”. In order to gain the qualifications for such an aim, she is currently finishing her PHD at Sydney University where she has access to labs and the Fantastic 2-D Printing shop.

She has also been collaborating with the Australian Museum Electromicroscopy unit microscopist Sue Linsday, as well as with the private sector in order to make her intricate microscultptures utilizing some of the latest technologies in computer 3-D modeling.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso received a MFA in Sculpture from the prestigious Yale University, USA in 1990 and a B.A from the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia in 1985. Born in Colombia, Maria Fernanda has lived and worked in Sydney since 1998. In 1995 she was catapulted to worldwide fame with her project, the Cardoso Flea Circus when it was premiered at the San Francisco Exploratorium, an art and science institution in California.  Maria is currently represented by Grantpirrie Gallery in Sydney and ARC ONE in Melbourne. 

To find out more about Maria Fernanda Cardoso, click here