This is Only a Test

THIS IS ONLY A TEST, featuring Sara Cardona, runs September 20-November 9, 2018 in the Michael and Noemi Neidorff Art Gallery in the Dicke Art Building at Trinity University. 

Sara Cardona uses the analog process of cut-and-paste collage in the tradition of Dada assemblage and a nod to the editing process of film. The images created are generated by imagining the exchange of commodities across the global south and the intersection of language and objects associated with soft power. These forms suggest movement, even as they are static, and the artist thinks of them as a hybrid of object and film still. Several of the works in the exhibition are based on the aesthetics of satellite glitches, static, horizontal/vertical video lines, and broadcast tests. These formats, often associated with communication, are reimagined through the warp and weft of blankets, jergas, and bandanas. These textiles represent human activity across the global south: as objects of tourism, contraband, labor, and migration.

For her exhibition with BSC and Trinity, Cardona pushes her paper works beyond the 2D plane associated with collage, implementing various installation methods that highlight the connections between paper and textiles. Using a material both personal and global, the works in the exhibition feature textiles regionally specific to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, pointing the viewer to the interwoven relationship of these nations and peoples. Additionally, the works in the exhibition are titled to create new wordplay, address miscommunication, and draw on the humor of idiomatic expressions to generate linguistic glitches and highlight social static across the region.

Sara Cardona was born in Mexico City and currently lives and works in Dallas TX. Most recent exhibitions include Artspace111’s annual juried exhibition (2018 juror Christina Rees), Fort Worth, TX; Prohibitor at Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas TX. Select solo exhibitions include Southern Gothic at Coulton Templeton Gallery, Fort Worth, TX; Ultra Baroque at City Gallery, Moody Performance Center, Dallas, TX; and Smog at Temple Gallery, Rome, Italy. A selection of Cardona’s residencies includes the Women’s Studio Workshop Artist Residency in Rosendale, New York; Rockefeller-Fideicomiso Artist Residency in Mexico City, Mexico; and C3 Artist in Residence at the DMA, Dallas, TX.