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that city's tradition of funky, pop influenced art"—funk and pop being particularly identified with the
Watters’ stable of artists. However, more commonly her work of this period—consistently figurative—was described as "expressionist". For example the critic Nancy Borlase wrote of her first exhibition that in "raw expressionist paintings … recognisable types, paragons of virtue or nastiness are brought to life in vivid slashes of fauve color, sometimes with devastating accuracy". Of an exhibition in 1978, W. E. Pidgeon would describe the "energetic combinations of brushwork, splashes, drips, broad strokes of cancellation (check) and jangling color schemes" as reflecting "the agitation and dissonances of our febrile age". This “agitation and dissonance” was seemingly meant to represent the type of political protest characteristic of the 70s, with which many Watters artists, including Varvaressos, were identified via the imagery in their work. Later, she would describe this period. "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"
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brilliantly beautiful still-life with pears, a portrait of gallery owner
Geoffrey Legge and a splendid double portrait of Thea Proctor and Maggie Preston taking tea”. In 1987, Bruce Adams noted that “her figurative art now focuses on a more severe and emblematic way on its formal ingredients and pictorial construction” and her “critical observation of social ways” had achieved a “more cool and introspective, formally reductive manner”. In 1990, Janine Burke would observe that “it is hard to think of another young Australian artist who handles with such assurance the gap between painterly abstraction and figuration”. In 1992, Geoffrey Legge of Watters Gallery would comment that the content of her work had “slipped from political corruption and patent and covert examples of social manipulation … onto observation of human nature: love, fear, dependency; the many ways we communicate or avoid communicating with one another”. By the 1990s, Varvaressos was alternating exhibitions of entirely of abstract works with ones made up of figurative work, but now done in a minimal way without identifiable characters.
118:“vitality”, Burke did not see this directed at people (as had Borlase and Pidgeon) but “primarily against the false and foolish images, mostly of women, that the media spew out, that assault an audience that has been so pacified and bedazzled it will swallow whatever iniquity is thrust down its (largely unprotesting) throat. … Varvaressos reveals the ugly reality behind the beautiful fantasy of the advertising image—and the potential violence that lurks within it”.
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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 drawn from
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In a survey of art by
Australian women in the 1970s, Janine Burke, while continuing the expressionist theme, would be more specific as to the nature of the political content of Varvaressos's work from that period. Taking up the common theme of an “anger” animating her painting and responsible for its
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By the early 1980s, critics were noticing subtle changes in
Varvaressos's paintings, however. Thus Sandra McGrath would describe an exhibition as containing “a group of paintings in which bitter, satiric impressions of political figures (Doug Anthony and Malcolm Fraser) share the wall space with a
113:
in Sydney in 1975, a gallery at which she would continue to show regularly until its closure in 2018. The first exhibition was well-received by critics, Daniel Thomas listing her among the best of the "New
Australian Faces of 1975". By 1978 she was being characterised as "a Sydneysider and heir to
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concerns of the 1970s 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.
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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.
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in Sydney from 1968 to 1971 at the East Sydney
Technical College. Her paintings throughout the following decade gave expression to the
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the inconsistencies of her life. Her paintings are formed from her head and can only be viewed wholly as an image once completed.
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Faces Beyond the Greek Café: The
Traditional Diversity of Greek-Australian Occupational Pursuits, 1820s–2010
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336:. Adelaide: Flinders University Department of Language Studies - Modern Greek. p. 413.
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696:(Greek-Australian newspaper), 9 September 2005. Platyrrahos Publishing, St Peters NSW.
190:, Gold Coast Collection and private collections in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia.
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New visions, new perspectives : voices of contemporary
Australian women artists
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681:“Some Painterly Work from Watters Gallery”, Watters Gallery, Sydney, 1992.
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Vicki
Varvaressos: Painting in the Same Language — A Different Vocabulary
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Art in Architecture: Selections from the New Parliament House Collection
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Vicki Varvaressos, Painting in the Same Language: Different Vocabulary
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Vicki Varvaressos, Painting in the Same Language: Different Vocabulary
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Lost and Found: Objects and Images. Ewing and George Paton Galleries
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Fields of Vision. A Decade of Change: Women's Art in the Seventies
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Fields of Vision. A Decade of Change: Women's Art in the Seventies
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Field of Vision. A Decade of Change, Women's Art in the Seventies
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1975–2017. Paintings, Drawings, Prints. Watters Gallery, Sydney.
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Dogs in Australian Art: A New History of Antipodean Creativity
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692:
Agapitos, James (2005). "Interview with Vicki Varvaressos",
516:"Vicki Varvaressos | The Cbus Collection of Australian Art"
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Private Symbol: Social Metaphor, The 5th Biennale of Sydney
740:
Saxby, John (2020). "Studio Visit: Vicki Varvaressos",
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92:, Australia in 1949, Vicki Varvaressos studied at the
726:, pp. 7–26. Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland.
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Frank Watters on the painting he has never exhibited
728:Mendelssohn, Joanna (2018). "Vicki Varvaressos" in
368:. Roseville East, NSW, Australia: Craftsman House.
312:1986–1998, Paintings, Niagara Gallery, Melbourne.
154:Varvaressos is represented in the collections of
109:Vicki Varvaressos's first exhibition was held at
698:Alexakis, Effy and Janiszewski, Leonard (1998).
610:. Maitland Regional Art Gallery. Maitland, NSW.
428:. Maitland Regional Art Gallery. Maitland, NSW.
135:“Now that her art has evolved, keeping calm and
732:. Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery, Nowra, NSW.
720:, Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery, Nowra, NSW.
332:Janiszewski, Alexakis, Leonard, Effy (2013).
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396:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
346:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
296:Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize
738:, 182–183, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, S.A.
704:Burke, Janine (1982). "Vicki Varvaressos",
672:. Viking Books, South Yarra, Vic., 1990, 99
635:. Viking Books, South Yarra, Vic., 1990, 99
460:) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
242:Australian Painting and Sculpture 1956–1981
141:‘the content has become much more internal’
581:Nancy Borlase, "Art: the young hopefuls",
464:) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
456:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
400:) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
366:A dictionary of women artists of Australia
483:. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House.
426:Vicki Varvaresso : the story so far
272:, Australian National Gallery, Canberra.
620:https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/958242429
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286:(winner), S. H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney;
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290:, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
279:, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
778:21st-century Australian women artists
768:20th-century Australian women artists
700:In their own Image: Greek Australians
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742:Look: Art Gallery of New South Wales
722:Eisenberg, Joe. (2014). "Essay" for
716:Dingle, Max (2018). "Introduction",
714:, pp. 99—104, Viking, Ringwood Vic.
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724:Vicki Varvaressos: The Story So Far
608:Vicki Varvaressos: the story so far
206:Vicki Varvaressos: The Story So Far
424:Varvaressos, Vicki, 1949- (2014).
364:Germaine, Max, 1914-2006. (1991).
265:, Canberra Contemporary Art Space.
172:Cruthers Collection of Women's Art
139:painting is more of a concern and
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744:, pp. 66—70, Sydney, March-April.
288:Contemporary Australian Portraits
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783:21st-century Australian artists
773:20th-century Australian artists
708:, vol 19, no. 4, 1982, 417—421.
568:Janine Burke, "Introduction",
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702:. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney.
210:Maitland Regional Art Gallery
145:Maitland Regional Art Gallery
520:www.cbusartcollection.com.au
284:Portia Geach Memorial Award
221:Shoalhaven Regional Gallery
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793:National Art School alumni
34:This biographical article
657:The Sydney Morning Herald
545:The Sydney Morning Herald
659:, Friday, March 20, 1987
270:Bicentennial Print Folio
299:, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
258:, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
251:, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
244:, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
237:, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
208:(paintings 1975–2013),
734:Miller, Steven (2012)
710:Burke, Janine (1990).
184:University of Tasmania
180:Wollongong Art Gallery
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598:, Feb 26, 1978, 112)
572:, 10-27 October 1978.
559:, 26-31 January 1976.
479:Voigt, Anna. (1996).
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47:by revising it to be
596:The Sunday Telegraph
256:Australian Perspecta
235:Australian Perspecta
788:Artists from Sydney
542:. 29 October 2018,
277:A Face in the Crowd
147:Cultural Director:
94:National Art School
618:. OCLC 958242429 (
557:The National Times
706:Art and Australia
647:, May 29-30, 1982
228:Group exhibitions
212:, Maitland N.S.W.
194:Major exhibitions
176:University of NSW
149:Joe Eisenberg OAM
75:is an Australian
73:Vicki Varvaressos
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204:2014–2015.
36:is written
752:Categories
525:16 October
490:9768097922
375:9768097132
317:References
126:Later work
105:Early work
452:cite book
444:958242429
392:cite book
342:cite book
84:Biography
694:O Kosmos
499:35819179
384:26591029
98:feminist
88:Born in
164:Artbank
49:neutral
43:Please
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293:2021.
282:2002.
275:1997.
268:1988.
261:1987.
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247:1984.
240:1982.
233:1981.
215:2018.
137:‘just’
90:Sydney
168:AGNSW
612:ISBN
527:2019
495:OCLC
485:ISBN
466:link
462:link
458:link
440:OCLC
430:ISBN
402:link
398:link
380:OCLC
370:ISBN
348:link
143:” -
51:and
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156:NGA
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