Hi my name is Vasco Varriale, and I’m a visual artist based out of Oakland and Petaluma CA.

I’m heavily influenced by traditional Italian artisanship, an ongoing romance with the American West, my upbringing in a multicultural immigrant family, a deep-rooted belief in coexisting sustainably with the natural world, and a life spent around farm animals.

Surrealist and abstract art is particularly attractive to me because it’s so effective in reflecting the beauty and horror of this world that the human mind struggles to grasp simultaneously. It seems that every absolute truth has an equally real contradiction. The duality of man is a reflection of the world around us.

When I grapple with the nonsensical nature of my existence, and question what my purpose on this earth is, I find myself cornered by my own logic. The only way I can move forward is with a playful absurdity that embraces the truths and untruths. My hope is that my work reflects both this struggle and subsequent conclusion.