Interior Scene II 1994

Adriana Varejão painted Interior Scene II with thin layers of watercolour on paper, and it feels like a kind of dream, suspended in time. It shows an interior scene, an intimate space perhaps, with figures lounging and interacting in ways that are both familiar and strange. I can imagine Varejão delicately layering washes of pigment, letting the colours bleed and blend. Look at the way the figures are rendered with such soft, muted tones against the backdrop of the stained paper. It reminds me of the early Renaissance frescoes, with that same sense of lightness and fragility. The architecture is very interesting and ambiguous – is the house in the process of being built, or falling apart? I think of Varejão as an artist with one foot in the present and another in the past. Like other artists, Varejão looks to the paintings of the past, but she does so in a way that’s deeply personal, and alive to the present moment. She helps us see the world in new ways. I can almost imagine a conversation between us, as if we are sitting next to each other, painting.