Varda Caivano

About

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.