Felice Varini’s field of action is architectural space. Everything that constitutes such space is the raw material for his work – a work shaped in situ and in relation to the spaces the artist encounters. Despite the particular characteristics of these spaces the works maintain their independence.
Varini generally roams through the space noting its architecture, materials, history, and function. From these spatial data and in reference to the last piece he produced, he designates a specific vantage point from which his intervention takes shape.
The vantage point is carefully chosen: it is generally situated at eye level and located preferably along an inevitable route, for instance an aperture between one room and another, a landing…This, however, does not constitute a rule for all spaces do not systematically possess an evident line. The choice is often arbitrary.
The vantage point functions as a reading point, that is, as a potential starting point to approaching painting and space. The painted form achieves its coherence when the viewers stand at the vantage point. When they move away from it, the work meets with space generating continuously new vantage points. It is not therefore through the original vantage point that the work achieves its form but through the set of vantage points it offers the viewer.
Varini starts from an actual situation to construct his painting. Reality is never altered, erased or modified, it interests and seduces him in all its complexity. He works “here and now”.
The work to be presented at the Xippas Gallery in his first solo exhibition in Greece will follow the same in situ method of installation.
Felice Varini was born in 1952 in Locarno, Switzerland. He lives and works in France. He has had many solo exhibitions in Europe, the USA and Australia and has participated in numerous group exhibitions. In 1988 he represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale. In 2000 he took part in the 31st Art Basel.
