Works of Art: Marcelo Novo

Ever Last, 1993

Linocut, ed. of 24

17 1/2 x 24 in.

$ 500

CLICK HERE FOR MORE WORK BY MARCELO NOVO.

Works of art by Marcelo Novo are available at if ART Gallery, 1223 Lincoln Street, Columbia, SC.

Contact Wim Roefs at if-art-gallery@sc.twcbc.com or (803) 255-0068/(803) 238-2351.

Artist's Statement: Marcelo Novo

Like a musician playing by ear and improvising as he goes, my art begins not with cautious preliminary sketches but working directly on the chosen surface and completing a work in one sitting. When I begin, I never know what will manifest itself. I start by doodling and when I feel as though things are happening, I follow. Whatever is in my mind has to go through my arm, my hand, so to avoid interference I choose materials that let me work quickly. When finished, I don't go back and re-work it. This approach allows a more spontaneous and intuitive way of creating art.

My art has its roots in Latin American and European Surrealism, a movement that believes art holds the key to unlock the inner workings of the mind, and reveal aspects of the psyche otherwise hidden. Diverse recurrent symbols appear in my work as manifestations of my life experiences, some of which are closely related to my Latin American cultural heritage and my life in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Recently, I began the Map Series. For this series, the chosen surface includes portions of maps from the USA and other parts of the world, on which I paint instinctive/subconscious images. The appeal and use of maps in this series relate to my travels and especially to my identity and sense of place.

I find adapting to a new culture both rewarding and enriching. The process is often helped by the intuitive approach with which I create my art. Similarly, after many years abroad I have new insights on my native country when home visiting family. As I mark sixteen years in the United States, the imagery in my work continues to evolve, reflecting my identity in two cultures and my experience in many places.

-Marcelo Novo

Marcelo Novo: Print Gocco Demonstration, January 18, 2008

Bath, 2009
Print Gocco, 2009
3 ¾ x 5 ¾ in. (image)/7 x 11 in. (sheet)

Edition of 20
$ 125 each

Created and printed
@
if ART Gallery
January 18, 2009

Bath, 2009
Print Gocco, edition of 20
3 3/4 x 5 3/4 in. (image)/ 7 x 11 in. (sheet)
$ 125

(AAB Photography)

Salon III: January 15- February 4, 2009

For exhibition preview, click here.

For installation images, click here.

For printmaking demonstration schedule, click here.

Lightness, 2008
Linocut
30 x 22 in.
$ 625

if ART Gallery

presents

SALON III: The Print Exhibition

January 15 – February 4, 2009

if ART Gallery

1223 Lincoln St., Columbia, S.C. 29205

Reception: Thursday, Jan. 15, 5 – 10 p.m.

Opening Hours:

Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

& by appointment

Printmaking Demonstrations:

Sunday, Jan. 18, 3 – 5 p.m., Marcelo Novo, Print Gocco

Sunday, Jan. 25, 3 – 5 p.m., Phil Garrett, Monotype

Saturday, Jan. 31, 3 – 5 p.m., H. Brown Thornton, Photo Transfer

Sunday, Feb. 1, 3 – 5 p.m., Steven Chapp, Linocut & Photopolymer Prints

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:

(803) 255-0068/ (803) 238-2351 – if-art-gallery@sc.twcbc.com

For its January 2009 exhibition, if ART Gallery presents Salon III, an exhibition of prints by gallery artists at if ART Gallery, 1223 Lincoln St., Columbia, S.C. The opening reception will be Thursday, January 15, 2009, 5 – 10 p.m. The exhibition will be installed salon-style at the gallery’s first floor and continues if ART’s salon-style exhibitions; in December 2008, Salon I & II took place simultaneously at the gallery and Gallery 80808/Vista Studios in Columbia.

Among the printmaking techniques represented in the exhibition are etchings, dry points, lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, photopolymer prints, embossings, monotypes, silkscreens and photo transfers.

During the exhibition, gallery artists Steven Chapp of Easley, S.C., Phil Garrett of Greenville, S.C., Brown Thornton of Aiken, S.C., and Marcelo Novo of Columbia will give demonstrations of various printmaking techniques. For times and demonstrated techniques, see above.

Artists in the exhibition include Karel Appel, Jeri Burdick, Carl Blair, Lynn Chadwick, Steven Chapp, Corneille, Jeff Donovan, Jacques Doucet, Phil Garrett, Herbert Gentry, Tonya Gregg, John Hultberg, Richard Hunt, Sjaak Korsten, Lucebert, Reiner Mährlein, Sam Middleton, Eric Miller, Joan Mitchell, Dorothy Netherland, Marcelo Novo, Hannes Postma, Edward Rice, Anton Rooskens, Kees Salentijn, Laura Spong, Brown Thornton, Bram van Velde, Katie Walker, David Yaghjian and Paul Yanko.

if ARTwalk: Salon I & II: December 11- 24, 2008

For exhibition installation images, click here.

THE SALON I & II

Dec. 11 – 24, 2008

an exhibition at two Columbia, SC, locations:

Gallery 80808/Vista Studios

808 Lady Street

&

if ART Gallery

1223 Lincoln Street

Reception and ifART Walk: Thursday, Dec. 11, 5 – 10 p.m.

at and between both locations

Opening Hours:

Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Sunday, 1 – 5 p.m.

& by appointment

Open Christmas Eve until 7 p.m.

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:

(803) 255-0068/ (803) 238-2351 – if-art-gallery@sc.twcbc.com

For its December 2008 exhibition, if ART Gallery presents The Salon I & II, an exhibition at two Columbia, SC, locations: if ART Gallery and Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. On Thursday, December 11, 2008, 5 – 10 p.m., if ART will hold opening receptions at both locations. The ifART Walk will be on Lady and Lincoln Streets, between both locations, which are around the corner from each other.

The exhibitions will present art by if ART Gallery artists, installed salon-style at both Gallery 80808 and if ART. Artists in the exhibitions include two new additions to if ART Gallery, Columbia ceramic artist Renee Rouillier and the prominent African-American collage and mixed-media artist Sam Middleton, an 81-year-old expatriate who has lived in the Netherlands since the early 1960s.

Other artists in the exhibition include Karel Appel, Aaron Baldwin, Jeri Burdick, Carl Blair, Lynn Chadwick, Steven Chapp, Stephen Chesley, Corneille, Jeff Donovan, Jacques Doucet, Phil Garrett, Herbert Gentry, Tonya Gregg, Jerry Harris, Bill Jackson, Sjaak Korsten, Peter Lenzo, Sam Middleton, Eric Miller, Dorothy Netherland, Marcelo Novo, Matt Overend, Anna Redwine, Paul Reed, Edward Rice, Silvia Rudolf, Kees Salentijn, Laura Spong, Tom Stanley, Christine Tedesco, Brown Thornton, Leo Twiggs, Bram van Velde, Katie Walker, Mike Williams, David Yaghjian, Paul Yanko and Don Zurlo.

Biography: Marcelo Novo

Game, 2001

Acrylic on canvas

48 x 36 in.

Marcelo Novo (b. 1963)

Buenos Aires native Marcelo Novo in 1992 moved from Argentina to Columbia, S.C., where he lives. He has been in dozens of exhibitions all along the East Coast, including a show at New York City’s Cinque Gallery. Novo’s 10-year retrospective was at the Sumter (S.C.) Gallery of Art in 2003. In April – May, 2008, “Marcelo Novo: Buenos Aires/Columbia, SC, 1985-1994” was at if ART Gallery, Columbia, S.C. In 2004-2005, Novo developed with choreographer Miriam Barbosa the ballet “Catharsis,” performed by the University of South Carolina Dance Company. Novo was the curator for “Accessibility 2005: Transplanted,” an installation art project in Sumter, S.C., featuring six Latin American artists living in the United States. 

Essay: Marcelo Novo

Sideways, 2005

Acrylic on canvas

11 x 14 in.

Marcelo Novo: Buenos Aires/Columbia, S.C., 1985-1994 

by Wim Roefs

When painter Marcelo Novo in 1992 moved from his native Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Columbia, S.C., he already was headed for what would become his signature style. The paintings and prints in this exhibition show his development from atmospheric, monochromatic, sculptural and architectural, abstract paintings to figure-oriented, often colorful work with rounded, voluminous forms and a Magic-Realist bend. 

The exhibition also shows that Novo (b. 1963), who earned a printmaking degree in Argentina, produced a large body of prints early in his career. They included etchings, drypoints, monotypes, lithos, linocuts and combinations of these techniques. Immediately after his arrival in Columbia, Novo produced many prints at the University of South Carolina as a guest artist and later an assistant to Boyd Saunders. 

The paintings from 1985-1987 show the influence of Novo’s mentor in Argentina, Roberto Aizemberg (a.k.a. Aizenberg). The works are dominated by sculptural and architectural formations in barren spaces, not unlike much of Aizemberg’s works, though Novo’s have a more organic feel. Two of the works, Tango and La Novicia, both from 1987, foreshadow Novo’s eventual turn toward the figure. 

The boxing paintings of 1988, produced in Madrid, Spain, firmly established the figure. In these paintings, Novo developed the first stage of his typical rendering of human faces, establishing their features through busy squiggles reminiscent of tubes or coils. The paintings are distinct in Novo’s oeuvre because of their painterly quality and the degree to which the narrative is straightforward and developed and the scenes, realistic.

In the next three years, Novo’s work incorporated many early features while moving toward his signature approach. Space, indoors and outdoors, open or architectural, often remained vital. The figure was by now established, with coil faces a dominant feature. But the figuration became more fanciful. Bold colors entered the fray, as did the Magic Realism, even Surrealism, for which Novo would become known. Madre Con Hijo, 1990, Exodo and Puede El Tiempe Ser Tan Cruel?, both of 1991, illustrate the shift. So does the magisterial Claro De Luna of 1990, which in many respects might be the seminal piece of Novo’s early years.

After his move to Columbia, Novo initially veered between past and future. The painterly El Mensaje, 1992, relates to the earlier period, also because of the squiggly faces. Arbol, 1992, and Mon Jardin, 1993, are truly organic but show the large, geometric form against empty space of which Aizemberg was so fond. In Pole Dance of 1992, the tube-like facial squiggles are less squiggly and more stabilized and circular. The painting moves toward Novo’s later, more broadly and fully rendered, rounder faces, a development that became pronounced in many 1993-1994 paintings and prints. Works of this period, including Dive, El Triunfo De Poncho and La Domadora also introduced the rounded, voluminous figures and shapes that are by now vintage Novo.

April 2008