Amazing arachnids at Tweed Gallery

COLOMBIAN Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso has turned the flamboyant courtship of Australia’s peacock spiders into the centrepiece of a new exhibition at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre.

The internationally renowned artist uses unconventional and organic materials to consider the tension between society and nature and the links to culture and science.

Her latest collection, celebrating the natural beauty and wonder of the tiny Australian Maratus spider, has been developed and toured nationally by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia since August last year.

Navigating the terrain between science, art and nature, the exhibition hails the beauty of the natural world and reveals the sophisticated lives of these normally unseen creatures.

Cardoso said the spider held a special place in the natural ecosystem.

“The Maratus spiders of Australia are the most colourful, flamboyant, sexy and charming spiders on the planet,” she said.

“To me, their use of colour, gesture, sound and movement makes them sophisticated visual and performing artists.

“They are also the smallest performers I know of, on average about 3-5 mm in size, smaller than a grain of rice.”

To create the large-scale works, Cardoso worked with renowned scientific imager Geoff Thompson and entomologist Andy Wang from the Queensland Museum, specialists in deep focus microphotography and microscopic specimen preparation.

Each image comprises more than 1,000 individual photos, which, when in concert, reveal stunning detail.

Accompanying the 17 large-scale digital photographic portraits is a large-scale immersive projection of Cardoso’s acclaimed video On the Origins of Art I-II, which presents the complex courtship ritual of the Maratus, a sophisticated communication through dance, vibration and colourful patterns.

Tweed Regional Gallery Director, Ingrid Hedgcock, welcomed the touring exhibition.

“We have been looking forward to presenting this exhibition in our region for some time and are excited to showcase Cardoso’s work, which we know will be popular across many audiences,” Hedgcock said.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise runs until August 3.

For information, visit gallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au