Vicki Varvaressos: the story so far

Vicki Varvaressos, Six Foot Caucasian with Beard (detail), 1976, acrylic and collage on canvas, 171.5 x 245.5 cm, on loan from private collection

Vicki Varvaressos is one of Australia’s leading established women painters. As a contemporary artist, Vicki Varvaressos emphasizes her inner feelings and emotions over objective depictions in highly personal colour choices and at the same time she takes the opportunity to express her attitude, sentiment and opinion.

Over time she has developed imagery characterized by vivid, often angular or flowing simplified figures to the point of distortion of her subjects. The dramatic figures contrast with a limited palette, which at times result in crude and rather raw finishes. This technique adds almost an impossible intensity to her art and defines and marks it as uniquely hers.

For Varvaressos the fragmentary nature of modern life evokes a disparate array of aesthetic responses. She paints with undisguised glee and actively searches her own feelings and story for the subject matter that becomes her art be it realistic or abstracted. She comments; ‘I paint the things that interest me, that’s what I’ve always done regardless; whatever the content. It’s what I’m involved in and what I’m interested in at the time.’