Varda Caivano

Each of the exuberant, intimate, and inquisitive paintings of Varda Caivano represents a unique journey into the artist´s imaginary. A journey that began when she moved to London to study a postgraduate program in Art History at Goldsmiths University, from which her investigations regarding a pursuit of the image carried on through her participation in the museum of Kunstverein Freiburg, the 55th Venice Biennial in 2013 or exhibitions as relevant as The Density Of The Action (2015), at The Renaissance Society or Surface Works (2018) at Victoria Miro, thus demonstrating her relevance as one of the most prominent conceptual painters in the contemporary art landscape.

Throughout her career, Varda Caivano continues experimenting, subjecting her paintings to a myriad of technical experiments: first she tried ceramic ornaments, then came a more abstract language, then she tested monochrome (she painted only in gray), after that she sanded the pictorial surface a lot (the paint was the matter that had come off the surface or what had been added onto it), then she painted the canvas from behind (the paint was the unintentional gestures that appeared behind: the marks of the paint) and finally she painted on both sides. In her most recent body of work, the artist has experimented with vibrant and even metallic pigments reminiscent of pentimenti – notable in medieval and Renaissance painting. A concept she became very interested in during her years in Rome, after receiving a fellowship from the British Schoool at Rome and studying the concept of "underpainting" – the painting that is underneath the painting – approximating a palimpsest.

Caivano’s interest is to understand in a conceptual, symbolic and technical way, as in: what happens when the image is made? She began to paint on these linen and jute canvases, which she then sewed to a canvas stretcher. These first investigations were conceived in the context of her solo exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2019, in Tokyo, where the use of open linen allowed her to appreciate both the irregularities and the openings of its weave, resembling the canvas to one’s own skin. Sometimes, she painted the underside, turned them over and painted them on the other side, sometimes only on one side. Later she became interested in the theme of reflection and the mark of light on the paintings.

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 Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2022); Lulu by X Museum, Mexico City (2022); 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), and her participation in the Gwangju Biennale in Korea in 2012.

Her recent group shows include 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); Massimiliano Gioni’s 55th Venice Biennale in Italy “The Encyclopedic Palace” (2013); Nottingham Contemporary; Hayward Gallery, London; Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art; Plymouth Arts Centre (2010); “New Contemporaries” Camden Arts Centre, London/ Sunderland Museum (2001).