Works
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About
Varda Caivano's abstraction opens different ways of understanding the image, seeks to reveal the counter-effect of painting, as if it were inimical of the image. Her compositions, sometimes rhythmic and antagonistically entropic, reveal hidden layers in the painting, in addition to a solemn and urgent sense, as if something was going to happen at any moment but following a particular order.
Caivano investigates moments of light and image, almost like an archeologist exploring fossilized rocks. Her work is at once mysterious and same time persistent and timeless. In the exercise of combining and juxtaposing colors and shapes, Caivano work is a meditation on the nature of her own paintings. One of the possible ways to unlock our understanding of Caivano's work is to consider the image as essence, without the artifices commonly attributed to painting. It is as if we are facing what is behind it. It is the state of the beginning but also of the end of the light. It causes an involuntary anomaly in time, in the same way that poetry does. By exploring a rhythm marked by the gesture preceding the form, Caivano provides alternatives for the painting to suggest an essence above its image. When using the image as a tool to access subjectivity, the artist aligns her way with a poet's method, which uses words to abstract language. They are rhythmic noises that force us to look inward, for what is buried – for the origin.
Varda Caivano (1971, Buenos Aires) lives and works in London.
Recent solo shows include the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2015); Chisenhale gallery, London (2007) and Kunstverein Freiburg, (2006). In 2013 a concise presentation of paintings throughout Caivano's practice, from early career to her most recent work, was included in The Encyclopedic Palace, the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, selected by curator Massimiliano Gioni. Other recent exhibitions Varda Caivano, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2019); Surface Work,Victoria Miro, London, UK (2018); Collection 2: The 1980s Zeitgeist as a Point of Departure, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2018). Current group exhibitions include No horizon, no edge to liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK (16 Jan 2020 - 23 Feb 2020) and Slow Painting, organised by Hayward Touring, which originated at Leeds Museum and Art Gallery, UK, touring to The Levinsky Gallery, Plymouth, UK (24 Jan – 28 Mar 2020), The Edge, University of Bath and Bath Spa School of Art and Design (10 April–6 June 2020) and Inverness Museum and ArtGallery, and Thurso Art Gallery (24 July–3 October 2020). A solo exhibition will take place at Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, UK, in 2022.
CV
Education
MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, London, UK
BA History of Art, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Solo shows
2021
Varda Caivano, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2019
Varda Caivano, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
Varda Caivano, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2015
Varda Caivano, Victoria Miro, London, UK
The DENSITY of the ACTIONS, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, USA
2013
In the Studio, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011
Voice, Victoria Miro, London, UK
2009
The Inner Me, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2007
Galerie Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf, GermanyChisenhale Gallery, London, UK
2006
Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
2005
Victoria Miro, London, UK
Group shows
2020
No horizon, no edge to liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
Glass Houses, Mcbean's Orchid Nursery, East Sussex, UK
CCA Andratx, Majorca, Spain
2019
Slow Painting, Hayward Gallery, London, UK; The Levinsky Gallery, Plymouth, UK
The Edge, University of Bath and Bath School of Art and Design, Bath, UK
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery and Thurso Art Gallery, Inverness, Scotland
2018
Surface Work, Victoria Miro, London, UK
The Divine Joke, Anita Rogers Gallery, New York, USA
Collection 2: The 1980s Zeitgeist as a Point of Departure, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2017
Summer Exhibition 2017, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Group exhibition, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
Between Something and Nothing, Richard Telles, Los Angeles, USA
Permeable Edge, Otter Gallery, University of Chichester, UK
A Way of Living, A Palazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy
In this soup we swim, Kingsgate Project Space, London, UK
2014
Group exhibition by Tomio Koyama Gallery, TOLOT/heuristic SHINONOME, Tokyo, Japan
2013
Why not live for Art? II - 9 collectors reveal their treasures, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo,Japan
STAG: BERLIN / LONDON, Dispari & Dispari Project, Reggio Emillia, Italy
Encyclopedic Palace, 55th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Artists ’Artists, CentrePasquArt, Biel, Switzerland
2012
Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, Korea
S, M, L, XL, Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
Varda Caivano & Yael Davids, CIRCUS, Berlin, Germany
Three Positions in Painting, Barbara Gross Gallery, Munich, Germany
Is Resistance Useless?, Marcelle Alix Gallery, Paris, France
Be With Me, Peter Bergman Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2011
Fountains and Drains, The British School, Rome, Italy
2010
Group Show Tomio Koyama, Tokyo, Japan
Collections Tomio Koyama, Tokyo, Japan
British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, Nottingham, UK
Contemporary; travelling to Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art,Glasgow, UK; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, UK
Collection 2 – Focus on Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Resonance, Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan
2009
40th Anniversary Benefit Auction, White Columns, New York, USA
Cave Painting, Gresham’s Ghost, New York, USA
East End Academy: The Painting Edition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
2008
Precious Things, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland
Swans Reflecting Elephants: Varda Caivano, Renee So, Rose Wylie, Kate MacGarry, London, UK
M25 Around London, CCA Andratx Art Centre, Majorca, Spain
Busan Biennale, Korea
Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, London, UK
Imaginary Realities: Constructed Worlds in Abstract and Figurative Painting, Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK
Rose Tinted Glasses, Gavin Brown passerby, New York, USA
INsideOUT, Galeria Moriarty, Madrid, Spain
2007
Very Abstract and Hyper Figurative, Dane Gallery, London, UK
2006
World-Gone-Mad, Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury, UK; travelling to Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK; Limehouse Art Foundation, London UK
Exhibitions
