Tuft Titty, Said the Kitty

About Clara Varas

Clara Varas uses household items and industrial materials to explore identity, gender, displacement, and the concept of home. Her paintings, which are aligned with sculpture and assemblage in vibrant compositions, defy singular categorization. Based on the idea of stretching the medium beyond traditional interpretations, Varas’ work is of an intuitive nature that is rooted in the painterly and the language of abstraction. Chaotic, humorous amalgamations of materials and disparate objects sometimes serve as stand ins for the figure or the self, challenging the threshold between stability and instability as they transcend boundaries between painting, sculpture, and installation. The objects Varas employs are marred by overuse and speak to their history or demise in order to form and shape narratives between her early childhood in Cuba and her present life in Miami. Unconventional materials such as household plants, fishing line, discarded clothing, broken furniture, and wood provide clues to the inhabitants of a city while simultaneously commenting on our relationship with interior and exterior spaces.

Recent exhibitions include Ellies Creative Award Winner, Oolite Arts, Miami, FL (2020); Interior/Exterior, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL (2017); Cut: American Abstract Paintings, 1970 to the present, Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL (2019); Materiality, Scope Special Projects, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY (2018); Disruptive Female, Hartvest Project, Pinecrest, FL (2017), and Intersectionality, MOCA-Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami Beach (2017) among many others. Varas has received many awards including: Cintas Knight Foundation Fellowship Finalist in Visual Arts (2015- 16); Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, 1st place winner, Seventh All Media Juried Biennial (2014), and Merit Award Winner, 63rd Annual All Florida Exhibition and Competition, Boca Raton Museum of Art (2014).