Vicki Varvaressos

Vicki Varvaressos is an Australian contemporary figurative expressionist painter. Sometimes referred to as a “transitional artist”, her painting style and subject matter has evolved throughout her career. Many of her works are of women and their experiences in Australia.

“All of my work has been a reflection of what I’m interested in. The early work is very much issues, and there were other issues apart from feminism, but the feminism stuff was there. Then the images became much more internal — ‘human existence'". - Vicki Varvaressos

Born in Sydney, Australia in 1949, Vicki Varvaressos studied at the National Art School in Sydney from 1968 to 1971 at the East Sydney Technical College.Her paintings throughout the following decade emulated the feminist concerns of the 1970's especially the representation of women in the media. She travelled extensively throughout Europe in 1978. In later years, her subject matter shifted towards reflecting a more personal experience. Varvaressos currently lives and works in Sydney.

Early in her practice Varvaressos' work was more political in contrast with the subtly evolved practice of later years. Straight out of art college, political subject matter was used as a foothold in Varvaressos’ career as a professional artist, but was not integral to her direction moving forward.

"I was very involved in resident action and feminism. It was 1975, it was the time of our 'Bloodless Coup', they call it the dismissal, and that was reflected in the works that I was painting" - Vicki Varvaressos

She paired paintings with explicit titles such as: Rethink your face, A hat from abroad, and Bang Lang. These titles suggested a political position and informed the tone of her early work. Varvaressos attributes this focus on political statements to the changing times in the 1970's. Politics is something she would not pursue in her later works.

In her work from the past two decades, her paintings evolved from figurative to highly abstracted forms. Her subject matter drew from her own emotional responses to everyday events. Her paintings employ a "murky" colour palette, which adds to the crudeness of her work, and her aesthetic is draw from the inconsistencies of her life. Her paintings are formed from her head and can only be viewed wholly as an image once completed.

“Now that her art has evolved, keeping calm and ‘just’ painting is more of a concern and ‘the content has become much more internal’” - Maitland Regional Art Gallery Cultural Director: Joe Eisenberg OAM

Varvaressos is represented in the collections of NGA, NGV, Artbank, AGNSW, University of NSW, Wollongong Art Gallery, University of Tasmania, Gold Coast Collection and private collections in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. Each year since 1975, Varvaressos has had annual solo exhibitions in Sydney, and each year in Melbourne since 1980. She is part of the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art.

Paintings: Figurative and Non-Figurative (1992)

Varvaressos’ exhibition ran from March 18 to April 4, 1992, at the Niagara Gallery in Richmond, Victoria. The works exhibited were: ‘Woman With Lamp and Flowers’ (1991), ‘Woman Sitting’ (1991), ‘Girls With their Mother’ (1991), ‘Woman Over Chair’ (1991), ‘Woman Running’ (1991), ‘Mary at Six Months: ‘What have I done?’’ (1991), ‘Woman with Candles’ (1991), ‘Girl in her Room’ (1991), ‘Table Trio’ (1991), ‘Swivel’ (1991), ‘Tumbling’ (1991), ‘Fifiefofum’ (1991), ‘Black and Green Tangle’ (1991), ‘Not - OM’(1991) and ‘Woman and Child’ (1992).

Vicki Varvaressos (1994)

Varvaressos’ exhibition ran from August 9 to August 27, 1994, at the Niagara Gallery in Richmond, Victoria. The works exhibited were: ‘Woman with Dead Child’ (1994), ‘Woman With Dead Child (II)’ (1994), ‘Weave me into the Sun (Anne Sexton)’ (1994), ‘Man With Gift’ (1994),’ Six and Forty’ (1994), ‘Woman and Statue’ (1994), ‘Hedda’ (1994), ‘Woman Flying’ (1994), ‘Moondance’ (1994), and ‘Trying on the Black trousseau’ (1994).

Vicki Varvaressos: The Story So Far (2014-2015)

Varvaressos had a retrospective exhibition at Maitland Regional Art Gallery titled ‘Vicki Varvarassos: The Story so Far’ (2014-2015). Amongst the artworks exhibited were examples of her works:‘Fruit’ (1986), ‘Motherhusk’ (1989),  ‘Woman and Fruit’ (1991), ‘Lilies and Boots Still Life’ (1992), ‘Two Figures’ (1992), ‘Sleepdancing’ (1994) and ‘Woman Sitting’ (2004).

Individual Exhibitions since 1975

• 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1981, Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne,
• 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989,Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1984, ‘Drawings and Linocuts’, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1985, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1986, 1988, 1990 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne,
• 1991, Some myths from Mani and other painters, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1992, 1994, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
• 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1996, Facescapes, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
• 1998, ‘'Selected Paintings'’, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
• 2001, Paintings, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 2002, Vicki Vavaressos: New Paintings, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne,
• 2003, Groups, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 2005, Dolls and Figures, Watters Gallery, Sydney.
• 2014, Vicki Varvaressos: The Story so Far, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, New South Wales.

Group Exhibitions since 1975

• 1975, 'Women in Art', WM, Perth,
• 1976, 'East Coast Drawing: Towards Some Definitions', Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane,
• 1978, 'Australian Women Artists', CAS Exhibition, Paddington Town Hall, Sydney,
• 1978, 'Lost and Found/Objects & Images', Ewing Gallery, Melbourne,
• 1979, 'Drawing 79', Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne,
• 1981, 'Australian Perspecta' '1981, 1985',
• 1980, 'Works on Paper', 'Recent Women's Images of Women', Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 1980, 'Works on Paper Invitation Purchase Exhibition', Campbelltown Art Gallery (NSW),
• 1982, 'Australian Painting & Sculpture 1956-1981' Survey from the Collection, Art Gallery of NSW,
• 1982, 'Five Contemporary Australian Painters', Tasmanian School of Art, Hobart and Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston,
• 1983, 'Six by Six Exhibition', Orange Festival of Arts New South Wales,
• 1983, 'Attitudes to Drawing', Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney,
• 1983, 'The Woolloomooloo Mural Project', Sydney,
• 1983, 'Romanticism and Classicism in Contemporary Australian Painting', Geelong Art Gallery and Regional Galleries in Victoria,
• 1984, 'Private Symbol. Social Metaphor'. Fifth Biennale of Sydney,
• The Hugh Williamson Memorial Invitation Art,
• Award, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria,
• 'Recent Acquisitions of Australian Prints', Australian National Gallery,
• 'Still Life', Studio Education Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales,
• 'Pleasure of the Gaze', Art Gallery of Western Australia.
• 2015, 'The Nigel Butterley Collection', Watters Gallery, Sydney,
• 2016, 'Heads', Watters Gallery ,Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia,
• 2017-2018, 'An Idiosyncratic Selection', Watters Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia,
• 2018, 'Watters to Watters "End of an Era"', Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Muswellbrook, Australia.