With [her] exhibition Voice, Caivano has moved on from being one of London's most promising younger painters and established herself as one of the best painters, of any age, anywhere today.
Varda Caivano's modest paintings invite prolonged scrutiny and repay with intimate evocations that shift and grow with each viewing. Caivano's painting are undeniably of themselves yet they are also, unavoidably, touched by and suggestive of the world beyond the studio, beyond the gallery. We can view these canvases in procedural terms, for there is always a palpable, enlivening sense of the artist making decisions or changing course, deflecting quick resolutions or alighting on happy accidents that lead to another set of problems, more possible outcomes.
This is one possible journey through the work, during which we might dwell on variations of touch and tone, alerted to qualities of paint as space is mapped and atmosphere created. However, equally strong are suggestions of landscapes or objects, actual things or those filtered through the canon of twentieth-century art. Caivano's great strength lies in her understanding of the ways in which objects and images impress upon us via essences of colour, shape and texture and how these essences affect us as deeply as the physical form to which they are usually attached. A sense of orchestration is brought to the fore in installations of Caivano's work where touch, tone, pace and pitch are made resonant through juxtaposition and space is orchestrated as much through pauses as paintings.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1971, Varda Caivano lives and works in London where she graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004. She has had major solo exhibitions at Chisenhale gallery, London (2007) and Kunstverein Freiburg, (2006). Her paintings are included in the British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, which will be on view in London at the Hayward Gallery from 16 February 2011. Other recent exhibitions include Collection 2 - Focus on Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Osaka, Japan (2010); Resonance, Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan (2010); East End Academy: The Painting Edition, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2009); M25 Around London, CCA Andratx Art Centre, Majorca, Spain (2008); Busan Biennale, South Korea (2008); Very Abstract and Hyper Figurative, curated by Jens Hoffmann, at Thomas Dane Gallery (2007); and solo exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery, London (2007) and Kunsterverein Freiburg (2006). Varda Caivano is a recent recipient of the prestigious Abbey Award, British School at Rome and will take up the fellowship during 2011.
Barry Schwabsky, Artforum, May 2011
Varda Caivano's modest paintings invite prolonged scrutiny and repay with intimate evocations that shift and grow with each viewing. Caivano's painting are undeniably of themselves yet they are also, unavoidably, touched by and suggestive of the world beyond the studio, beyond the gallery. We can view these canvases in procedural terms, for there is always a palpable, enlivening sense of the artist making decisions or changing course, deflecting quick resolutions or alighting on happy accidents that lead to another set of problems, more possible outcomes.
This is one possible journey through the work, during which we might dwell on variations of touch and tone, alerted to qualities of paint as space is mapped and atmosphere created. However, equally strong are suggestions of landscapes or objects, actual things or those filtered through the canon of twentieth-century art. Caivano's great strength lies in her understanding of the ways in which objects and images impress upon us via essences of colour, shape and texture and how these essences affect us as deeply as the physical form to which they are usually attached. A sense of orchestration is brought to the fore in installations of Caivano's work where touch, tone, pace and pitch are made resonant through juxtaposition and space is orchestrated as much through pauses as paintings.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1971, Varda Caivano lives and works in London where she graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004. She has had major solo exhibitions at Chisenhale gallery, London (2007) and Kunstverein Freiburg, (2006). Her paintings are included in the British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, which will be on view in London at the Hayward Gallery from 16 February 2011. Other recent exhibitions include Collection 2 - Focus on Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Osaka, Japan (2010); Resonance, Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan (2010); East End Academy: The Painting Edition, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2009); M25 Around London, CCA Andratx Art Centre, Majorca, Spain (2008); Busan Biennale, South Korea (2008); Very Abstract and Hyper Figurative, curated by Jens Hoffmann, at Thomas Dane Gallery (2007); and solo exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery, London (2007) and Kunsterverein Freiburg (2006). Varda Caivano is a recent recipient of the prestigious Abbey Award, British School at Rome and will take up the fellowship during 2011.
Exhibitions
-
Voice
1 Feb - 12 Mar 2011 -
Varda Caivano
7 July - 4 August 2005
Publications
-
Varda Caivano
Felicity Lunn & Simon Wallis
