The Plight of Matter.(Nuno Ramos, Modern Art Musem, Fort Worth, Texas)

Combining unusual materials and procedures, 40-year-old Brazilian artist Nuno Ramos has gained broad attention in his homeland for his sculptures and installations. The subject of a 15-year museum survey in Brazil, he recently showed a major installation on the West Coast.

A piece of matter, as it is known empirically, is not a single existing thing, but a system of existing things. When several people simultaneously see the same table, they all see something different; therefore "the" table, which they are supposed all to see, must be either a hypothesis or a…