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Tom Varley (b. 1985) is an artist living and working in Glasgow, Scotland. Since 2020 Tom has concentrated exclusively on painting and drawing. Prior to this he worked with a range of media including film, video, text, and installation. His artworks have often explored the subjective character of individual experience and how this relates to wider systems and structures — language, ideology, and economy.


Vignettes (1), (2019)

16mm Film transferred to HD Video, 1’15” 

This Man: David Alexander Scott 
Narrator: Lucy Duncombe


Vignettes (2019-ongoing) is a series of very short films about ways that economy shapes subjectivity; about people’s inner lives and the things they do for money. Each film focusses upon a single character, each appearing alone and off guard as they rehearse their interactions with friends, colleagues, bosses and lovers. Shot on 16mm, the individual films explore various conventions of narrative filmmaking, attempting to suggest a story with the fewest ingredients possible.

Thanks to David, Elaine, Lucy, and the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow


Stills from: Vignettes (2) (2019), 16mm Film transferred to HD Video, 1’01” 

This woman: Elaine Blair 
Narrator: Lucy Duncombe
This woman is a legal secretary at a solicitors firm specialising in no-win-no-fee claims for personal injury and medical negligence. She attends evening classes in advanced first-aid and military self-defence; mouth-to-mouth, hand-to-hand. She lets these lessons merge as she daydreams through reams of paper work. She imagines resuscitating a victim, laid prone and inert by her own masterful roundhouse kick. She imagines killing a man with a manoeuvre designed to clear an obstruction from the throat. 


The man in the denim jacket is an eCommerce Insight Analyst for a struggling telecommunications retailer. The problems stem from a brand image built around the chronically antiquated term, ‘Carphone’. His Ashtanga Yoga retreat turned sour. The implementation of his 5-year plan has been postponed. Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed: Mindplace Thoughtstream USB Personal Biofeedback, and the Neen N400 Pericalm.