Varda CAIVANO
Untitled, 2020
Mixed media
101 x 41.4 x 2.5 cm
(39.76 x 16.29 x 0.98 in)
In groups, or in threes or twos, Varda CAIVANO’s paintings work in concert to generate a rich dialogue. Recent exhibitions have explored scale and surface, through the interplay of smaller works with larger, elongated canvases. The question of where each individual work begins and ends is also explored in each painting, especially in the space between the image and the edge. This painting in particular exemplifies the visual pleasures and ludic qualities of CAIVANO’s work, starting with the liminal space made by the fixing of the painted canvas to the ground of the backing. This creates a trompe l’oeil effect leading the viewer into the image, which itself has darker lines around the margin that delineate a recessive space. This shallow space allows us to fall into the image, organic shapes that might be part of a landscape, albeit a fragmentary or hallucinatory one, rendered in warm, burnished hues.
~ Francis Lamb, 2024
Varda CAIVANO
Untitled, 2020
Mixed media
101 x 41.4 x 2.5 cm
(39.76 x 16.29 x 0.98 in)
Photo credit: Bruno Leão
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1971, Varda CAIVANO graduated from her masters at the Royal College of Art (London) in 2004, having previously been educated to degree level in sciences (Biology), and humanities (Art History), the latter taken at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. On moving to the United Kingdom in the early 2000s to complete a graduate diploma at Goldsmiths University in Fine Art, she followed this with her RCA MA, where Caivano is now Faculty Lecturer in painting, alongside her commitment as artist ‘supervisor’ of the independent studio programme at De Ateliers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Her recent solo exhibitions include Labor, Mexico City (2024), Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2022); Lulu by X Museum, Mexico City (2022); Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2021) and Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo (2019). International solo exhibitions of note include ‘The DENSITY of the ACTIONS’ curated by Solveig Øvstebø at The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (2015), The Renaissance Society, Chicago (2015), Massimiliano Gioni’s 55th Venice Biennale in Italy “The Encyclopedic Palace” (2013), and participation in the Gwangju Biennale in Korea in 2012.
Her recent group shows include Lisson Gallery, Mendes Wood DM at d'Ouwe Kerk, Retranchement (2023 and 2022); Spiral Garden, Tokyo (2022); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2020); Hayward Gallery Touring, Leeds Museum and Art Gallery, Leeds; The Levinsky Gallery, The Arts Institute — University of Plymouth, Plymouth; University of Bath and Bath Spa School of Art and Design; Inverness Museum & Art Gallery and Thurso Art Gallery (2019 – 2020); The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2018); Nottingham Contemporary (2014); 55th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (2013); Nottingham Contemporary; Hayward Gallery, London; Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art; Plymouth Arts Centre (2010).
CAIVANO’s works are housed in the collections of the British Council Collection, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, The Taguchi Art Collection and Zabludowicz Collection, among others.
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