Petra Varl


Sewn portraits (thread, canvas)
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Pas de deux, 2005 (acrylic and thread on canvas), several works, 10 x 10 x 29,7 cm

The work of Petra Varl is based on drawings printed on canvas. Thread is used as a painting stroke; according to the principle of a children's colouring book, it fills up larger surfaces or it is used to delineate main contours. The drawing – the expressive layers of the machine-sewn strokes – delineates portrait images. The artist has realistically captured different people, extending from the image of a dreamy young girl to the proud owners of new kitchen furniture,
a young coquette, and a lady holding a cup of coffee and introspectively gazing into the distance. In this series, Varl has created portraits of people near and dear to her, and they subtly express the fascination and dreams of contemporary human beings. Actually this is a work in the form of a diary containing inscriptions about people dear to the artist. These portraits reflect everything that the traditionally understood genre of portraiture is supposed to reflect.
In addition, Petra Varl exhibits four works made in collaboration with Eduard Lesjak. These
works present a dialogue between the two artists, which resulted in the confluence of two quite different visual languages and explorations. These works are a juncture of the so-called Lesjak modules, in which he explores abstract structures, and Varl's realistic images executed as prints on canvas, featuring her daughter and her friend as symbols of the current generation of adolescents with their fragility and determination.

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Born in 1965 in Ljubljana. Between 1983 and 1987 she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She graduated in 1989 and completed her postgraduate studies under Professor Metka Krašovec in 1997. Since 2000 she lectures drawing and graphic art at the department of fine arts of the Faculty of Education in Maribor. She lives and works in Ljubljana.

Solo exhibitions (selection):

2006 Pas de deux (with Eduard Lesjak), Galerija Kresija, Ljubljana
2001 Portreti, Galerija Loža, Koper
1997 Zvezda in Odeon, Galerija RIGO, Novigrad
1995 Pita moje mame, Mala galerija, Ljubljana
1994 Nos ob Nos, parking Metelkova, Ljubljana

Group exhibitions (selection):

2005 Prva linija, 20. grafični bienale, MGLC, Ljubljana
1997 Biennale d Arte Contemporain Internacionale Selest Art 97, Selestat
1996 23 Bienal International Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo
Občutek za red, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana
1994 Esprit d amusement, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz

www.ljudmila.org/scca/petra