CARDOSO AND THE AESTHETIC SCIENCE OF NATURAL BEHAVIOR AT LA COMETA

María Fernanda Cardoso (Bogotá, Colombia, 1963) arrives at the Madrid venue of La Cometa with Spiders from Paradise and On the Origins of Art I–II, continuing her aesthetic investigations into the behavior and structures of weaving spiders. With an approach that is scientific in spirit yet deeply artistic, the artist captures through macro photography how these small creatures construct their webs, focusing on patterns of symmetry and on their mathematical and geometric complexity.

In this natural and biological act, the Colombian artist reveals an aesthetic dimension, even within the intrinsic beauty of the living being itself. More than a decade ago, Cardoso became interested in the Maratus, a genus of tiny Australian jumping spiders whose mating ritual encompasses the full complexity of chromaticism, dance, precision, and the repetition of behaviors. In their courtship, the male bets his success on carefully patterned movements, combined with the physics of vibrations and the chemistry of certain signals.

Cardoso records in extreme detail the magnificent chromaticism of the species itself, finding within it an aesthetic expression embedded in its functional nature. These spiders appear to be aware of their appearance and of the potential that gesture and the use of color hold, outwardly granting them that human quality of the performative and the theatrical.

The exhibition features sixteen large-format portraits of Maratus species, produced in collaboration with scientific photographer Geoff Thompson and entomologist Andy Wang, enlarging the detail to an almost unreal scale. This precise, microscopic imagery introduces viewers to the functional qualities of the arachnid’s physical attributes, inviting them to become more aware of the process. The video On the Origins of Art I–II fulfills this role as well, further expanding the spiders’ movements into perceptible vibrations, allowing audiences to experience the artistic complexity hidden within the communication processes of the animal kingdom.

María Fernanda Cardoso. Spiders from Paradise can be seen until April 25 at La Cometa, San Lorenzo 11, Madrid (Spain).