Kjell Varvin says that his drawings and sculpture are not what we think they are. That means we have to learn to see rather without thinking, or at least without thinking that we see something that is not there. But once a thought establishes in our minds, it is hard to get rid of. Like the Zen master told his pupils at the beginning of the morning session of meditation: Don’t think of a monkey! In Varvin’s work it is easy to start thinking about things other than what you see directly, because the information your eyes get from glancing, as you pass by, is scarce and gives you no sudden kick for your motor of associations. If you stop and look, really look, your thoughts will slow down. What you see is not an illusion, like a pipe or a nude. What you see is a system of lines in angles, patterns over a coloured background or just some thin iron rods welded into a simple geometric figure, that’s it. Now, if you are capable of letting yourself go into the line work, there is a possibility that you will end up floating in a space that you yourself have constructed. And the transparency of his work, the weightlessness and floating atmosphere knocks down the walls and invites you for a journey on your own. Lines are allowed to continue past the borders of the panes to join lines of the surroundings, including you as a constructive element in a process where you have automatically adjusted to the room and the whole environment, because our nature is to organise and stabilise. We want to combat disorder and find our correct position. This entire means that Varvin’s art has no immediate function. It is not flashing in front of you, capturing and absorbing your mind with some exotic story. He does not impose, nor interfere with your life in any way. His means of convincing and gaining attention is by discretely waiting for the right moment, when you are ready for it, when you can let go of all stressful necessity.
