Opposition
First, nose to nose. The difference between man and woman, between blue and pink. Between left and right. Not only a difference, but abinary oppo­sition, symmetry, structure. This is the basic pattern here: all works here are based on the principle of opposition. If they are not symmetrically built themselves, they represent asymmetrical counterpart to another work or project. But it seems that the pathos of the difference, the difference which turns chaos into cosmos, has somehow disappeared. The binary elements flirt, and finally touch: nose to nose.

The Two Giraffes
Second, a story. If I remember correctly, the first work by Petra Varl I saw  was a painting that told the story of two giraffes. The giraffes were hitchhiking to the seaside.
So it was a story. Storytelling. Or perhaps just staging or hints and references.  Sometimes even manipulation. But never only manipulation, for a story can develop on its own (or with the help of an idea, arbitrarily, by chance). Originating, of course, in the given points of departure.
Clearly, stories can never be linear. New threads that take us in unexpected directions can always be drawn from them. So we see one of the young gentlemen from Metelkova Street and a young lady from the Museum of Modern Art on a calendar glued on an advertising pillar in the Zvezda Park entangled in a love affair with Ljubljana and its seasons.
The end of the story about the two giraffes has a rad­ically open ending. A car stops and the giraffes - with some difficulty –manage to get in. The car drives off to the seaside. Everything is possible.

Third
"The passengers naturally assumed that the three people boarding were together; and they felt sure that whatever these people's business had been that night, it had not come to a happy conclusion. But the passengers had seen things more various than this in their lifetime. The world is filled with busi­ness of every sort, as they well knew. This still was not as bad, perhaps, as it could be." (Raymond Carver, The Train)

This Is It
Fourth. It is what it is. Nothing is hidden.

Igor Zabel, 1995

Links to works:

• My Mother's Pie
• My Father With Milking Machine