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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, 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 (b. 1971, Buenos Aires, Argentina) lives and works between London and Madrid.
Her recent solo exhibitions include Moonlight Paintings, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2022); En México, Lulu by X Museum, Mexico City (2022); Varda Caivano, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2021); Varda Caivano, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo (2019); The DENSITY of the ACTIONS, The Renaissance Society, Chicago (2015); Voice, Victoria Miro, London (2011); Chisenhale gallery, London (2007); and Varda Caivano: Malerei, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg (2006). A solo exhibition will take place at Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, in 2023.
Her recent group shows include All season sanctuary, Mendes Wood DM at d'Ouwe Kerk, Retranchement (2022); The Kingfisher’s Wing, GRIMM, New York, USA (2022); Natural Function, Spiral Garden, Tokyo (2022); No horizon, no edge to liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2020); Slow Painting, Hayward Gallery Touring, Leeds Museum and Art Gallery, Leeds; The Levinsky Gallery, The Arts Institute - University of Plymouth, Plymouth; The Edge, University of Bath and Bath Spa School of Art and Design, Bath; Inverness Museum & Art Gallery and Thurso Art Gallery, Inverness (2019 – 2020); Collection 2: The 1980s Zeitgeist as a Point of Departure, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2018); Somewhat Abstract, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham (2014); Encyclopedic Palace, 55th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Venice (2013); and British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, Nottingham; Hayward Gallery, London; Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth (2010).
CV
Education
2004
MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
2001
Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, London, United Kingdom
1998
BA History of Art, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, United Kingdom
MACBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2022
Moonlight Paintings, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium
En México, Lulu by X Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
2021
Varda Caivano, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Varda Caivano, Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, United Kingdom
2019
Varda Caivano, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
Varda Caivano, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2015
Varda Caivano, Victoria Miro, London, United Kingdom
The DENSITY of the ACTIONS, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, USA
2013
In the Studio, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011
Voice, Victoria Miro, London, United Kingdom
2009
The Inner Me, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2007
Varda Caivano, Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf, Germany
Varda Caivano Paintings, Chisenhale Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2006
Varda Caivano: Malerei, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
2005
Varda Caivano, Victoria Miro, London, United Kingdom
Group Exhibitions
2022
All season sanctuary, Mendes Wood DM at d'Ouwe Kerk, Retranchement, The Netherlands
The Kingfisher’s Wing, GRIMM, New York, USA
Natural Function, Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan
A Minor Constellation, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2020
No horizon, no edge to liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London, United Kingdom
Glass Houses, Mcbean's Orchid Nursery, East Sussex, United Kingdom
2019
Globe as a Palette: Contemporary Art from the Taguchi Art Collection, Sapporo Art Museum; Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art; Kushiro Art Museum; Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido, Japan
Slow Painting: Hayward Gallery Touring, Leeds Museum and Art Gallery, Leeds; The Levinsky Gallery, The Arts Institute - University of Plymouth, Plymouth; The Edge, Univerysity of Bath and Bath Spa School of Art and Design, Bath; Inverness Museum & Art Gallery and Thurso Art Gallery, Inverness, United Kingdom
2018
Surface Work, Victoria Miro, London, United Kingdom
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, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom
Group exhibition, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Drawing Biennial 2017, The Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom
2016
Evolutionary Travels, Fundación Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Between Something and Nothing, Richard Telles, Los Angeles, USA
Permeable Edge, Otter Gallery, University of Chichester, Chichester, United Kingdom
A Way of Living, A Palazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy
In this soup we swim, Kingsgate Project Space, London, United Kingdom
2014
Group exhibition by Tomio Koyama Gallery, TOLOT/heuristic SHINONOME, Tokyo, Japan
Somewhat Abstract, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, United Kingdom
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
9th Gwangju Biennial - Roundtable, Gwangju, South 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
Collection: Contemporary Art and Themes, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
A House of Leaves. Second Movement, The David Roberts Art Foundation, London, United Kingdom
Art Foundation Mallorca Collection – Special Edition, CCA Andratx, Andratx, Spain
2011
Fountains and Drains, The British School, Rome, Italy
A Sort Of Night To The Mind A Kind Of Night For Our Thoughts, Artary Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany
Colección Art Foundation Mallorca 2011 - Obras Destacadas y Últimas Adquisiciones, CCA, Andratx, Spain
Nakanoshima Collections, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2010
British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Hayward Gallery, London; Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, United Kingdom
Collection 2 – Focus on Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Resonance, Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan
Rebecca Morris, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Mary Heilmann, and Varda Caivano, Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago, USA
ON PTG, Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago, USA
2009
A Sort of Night to the Mind, A Kind of Night for our Thoughts, Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury, United Kingdom
We’re Moving (selected graduates), Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
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, United Kingdom
Drawing 2009 Biennial Fundraiser, The Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom
2008
Precious Things, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland
Swans Reflecting Elephants: Varda Caivano, Renee So, Rose Wylie, Kate MacGarry, London, United Kingdom
M25 Around London, CCA Andratx Art Centre, Majorca, Spain
Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea
Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, London, United Kingdom
Imaginary Realities: Constructed Worlds in Abstract and Figurative Painting, Max Wigram Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Rose Tinted Glasses, Gavin Brown passerby, New York, USA
INsideOUT, Galeria Moriarty, Madrid, Spain
Painting 2004”, Victoria Miro, London, United Kingdom
Varda Caivano, Matt Connors, Thomas Hylander, Zak Prekop, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2007
Very Abstract and Hyper Figurative, Dane Gallery, London, United Kingdom
An Archaelogy, Zabludowicz Collection, London, United Kingdom
Summer Group Show 2007, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2006
World-Gone-Mad, Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury; Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; Limehouse Art Foundation, London, United Kingdom
2005
London in Zurich, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Expanded Painting - Prague Biennale 2, Prague, Czech Republic
2004
Winter Show 2004, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Arrivals 2004, Pump House Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Revenge of Romance, Temporary Contemporary, London, United Kingdom
TwentyfourThirty, Keith Talent Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Painting 2004, Victoria Miro, London, United Kingdom
Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2003
Three person show, Millefiori ArtSpace, Athens, Greece
Selected Paintings, MW projects, London, United Kingdom
Dirty Pictures, The Approach, London, United Kingdom
Beca Kuitca, Galeria Fernando Pradilla, Madrid, Spain
2002
poT, Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil; Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Notably, Pump House Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Only Way Forward, Neon Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Primeiro do Abril, Erika Verzutti Project Space, São Paulo, Brazil
The Michael Ashcroft, Neon Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2001
New Contemporaries, Camden Arts Centre, London; Sunderland Museum, United Kingdom
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2001, Camden Art Centre, London, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, United Kingdom
Collections
British Council Collection
Osaka's National Museum of Art
The Taguchi Art Collection
Zabludowicz Collection
Exhibitions
Publications
The Density of the Actions
2015
