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

Buenos Aires native Marcelo Novo (b. 1964) lives in Alexandria, Va., where he moved from Columbia, S.C., in 2010.  Since his move, Novo has been in group exhibitions at the Argentine embassy in Washington, D.C., the Argentine consulate in New York City, and the Columbia (S.C.) Museum of Art. His 2014 solo exhibition Here, There, Somewhere was at Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria campus. Marcelo Novo: Materia Gris was in 2011 at Columbia’s if ART Gallery, as was in 2008 Marcelo Novo: Buenos Aires/Columbia, SC, 1985-1994. Novo, who in 1992 moved from Argentina to Columbia, has been in dozens of exhibitions along the East Coast and elsewhere, including at New York City’s Cinque Gallery; the Fayetteville (N.C.) Museum of Art; the DeLand (Fla.) Museum of Art; the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, N.C.; the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia; and the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, Calif. Novo’s ten-year retrospective was in 2003 at the Sumter (S.C.) Gallery of Art.

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 

Essay: Marcelo Novo

MARCELO NOVO: FLOW

Wim Roefs

Curator

Going with the flow is inherent to Marcelo Novo’s automatist approach to painting, in which he lets his subconscious take over. That subconscious is going new places these days. Novo’s work is sparser than before, certainly in terms of pallet but often also with respect to visual content and compositional complexity. 

The compositions in Novo’s “Grey Series” at times remain complex and rich in detail, but the pallet consists of shades of grey only. In the “Contrast Series,” the compositions are straightforward and the pallet, limited. The contrast is between the solid background in hot pink, bright blue or mustard-yellow and the grey-toned, isolated figures and objects set against them. Novo has produced sparse paintings before but not as a sustained body. 

There are also more paintings in which the figure doesn’t take center stage even as human presence does in the form of a hand or heart and on a psychological and symbolic level. The introduction of bars, pipes, and faucets is new to his repertoire, certainly as featured objects, as is the frequent appearances of the human heart. The compositional isolation of these common elements against a solid background, in combination with Novo’s already graphic and stylized approach, connects his work closer to Pop Art than before.

The new paintings also confirm his esthetic affinity with Fernand Léger. Novo shares the French artist’s interest in rounded forms and volume in a flat space. The initial impetus for these style forms was not Léger, though, but Latin American art, especially that of the Mexican muralists. “And I like Francis Bacon, the figures against large areas of flat color,” Novo says. “I like the impact. I have never been much attracted by more subtle pieces. It’s almost guttural.” 

Novo’s connection to Magic Realism and European Surrealism remains. A hand “holds” flowers without stems, a figure has a heart for a head, another figure tries to squeeze through a faucet. While he paints whatever his subconscious would have him paint, Novo’s automatism, a Surrealist method, takes place within certain parameters. His general mood over weeks might be in favor of certain size canvases, and he tends to mix colors in large batches, which he doesn’t want to waste. Such restrictions do not affect what he paints, just what is available to paint with. “Automatism,” he says, “that freedom to just paint what comes, is liberating.” 

What comes is often autobiographical. His laughing men remind Novo of Al Jolson, one of his father’s favorites, and of Carlos Gardel, the early-20th century tango singer who’s still a pop phenomenon in Novo’s native Argentina. His figures’ large hands are those of his grandmother. “I can still remember the feel of her hands holding me.” Flowers resembling vaginas and sensual couples reflect his own sexuality, Novo says. “I am a very sexual person and that shows in my work sometimes.” And the water and the pipes it flows through could be about healing and health issues, Novo thinks. His mother became ill and his father died a few years back, which might have triggered such concerns. The water is also about “Catharsis,” a ballet Novo developed earlier this year. “I am basically influenced by anything I see and experience. Everything is recorded and could come out when I am painting.”

Marcelo Novo: Buenos Aires/Columbia, SC: April 17- May 7, 2008

if ART Gallery

1223 Lincoln St., Columbia, SC

Presents:

MARCELO NOVO:

Buenos Aires/Columbia, SC

1985 – 1994

April 18 – May 7, 2008

Opening Hours:

Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

and by appointment

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:

(803) 238-2351 – wroefs@sc.rr.com

The upcoming exhibition at if ART Gallery, Marcelo Novo: Buenos Aires/Columbia, SC, 1985–1994, opens to the public on Friday, April 18. It will run through May 7, 2008. The exhibition will present early work by Argentine artist Marcelo Novo, a native of Buenos Aires who has lived in Columbia since 1992. Novo (b. 1963) will show paintings and prints, including monotypes, etchings, drypoints, lithos and prints combining several techniques.

Novo has been in dozens of exhibitions across the country and abroad, including at New York City’s Cinque Gallery, the Deland Museum of Art in Deland, Fla., and Buenos Aires’ Centro Cultural Recoleta. Novo’s 10-year retrospective was at the Sumter (S.C.) Gallery of Art in 2003. 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, featuring six Latin American artists living in the United States.

The Inventory: February 15-26, 2008

Red Waves, 1994

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 24 in

$1,700

if ART

presents at

Gallery 80808/Vista Studios

808 Lady St., Columbia, S.C.

THE INVENTORY:

A Group Show of if ART artists

Feb. 15 – 26, 2008

Artists’ Reception: Friday, Feb. 15, 5 – 10 p.m.

Opening Hours:

Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Sundays, 1 – 5 p.m.

Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. and by appointment

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:

(803) 238-2351 – wroefs@sc.rr.com

For its February exhibition, if ART presents The Inventory, a group exhibition of artists from if ART Gallery. The show will consist of many new works by if ART artists as well as older pieces from the gallery’s inventory.

Included in the show will be work by Columbia artists Jeff Donovan, Mary Gilkerson, Marcelo Novo, Anna Redwine and David Yaghjian. Other South Carolina artists include Carl Blair, Jeri Burdick, Phil Garrett, Bill Jackson, Peter Lenzo, Dorothy Netherland, Matt Overend, Edward Rice, Tom Stanley, Christine Tedesco, H. Brown Thornton, Leo Twiggs, Katie Walker and Paul Yanko. Furthermore, the show will present work by former South Carolina residents Tonya Gregg, Eric Miller and Andy Moon. Also included are California collage artist Jerry Harris, Dutch painter Kees Salentijn and German artists Roland Albert, Klaus Hartmann and Silvia Rudolf.

Works of Art: Marcelo Novo

All works of art by Marcelo Novo are available at if ART Gallery, 1223 Lincoln St., Columbia, SC 29201.

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

Earl Grey, 2013, acrylic on

canvas, 36 x 15 in., $1,700

Eruption, 2012, acrylic on canvas,
 14 x 11 in., $900

Mates, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in., $1,300

Corazon, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in., $1,750

Flor de vida, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 in., 
$2,500

Thought, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in., $1,300

Reina Madre, 2012, acrylic on canvas,
 24 x 30 in., $1,950

Self-Steam I, 2013, acrylic on canvas,
24 x 18 in., $1,600

Ace In a Landscape, 2013, acrylic on map on canvas,
10 x 20 in., $1,050

City Maze, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas,
10 x 10 in., $650

Dancing Light, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas,
12 x 12 in., $850

La espera, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas,
12 x 12 in., $850

Holiday, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas, 16 x 20 in.,
$1,300

It Takes Two, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas,
10 x 20 in., $1,050

Nadando en lagrimas, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas,
24 x 24 in., $1,750

Patriot, 2013, acrylic on map on canvas,
10 x 10 in., $650

Nature Imitates, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 in.,
$1,600

Complex System, 2012, acrylic on canvas,
24 x 18 in., $1,600

Hide and Seek, 2012, acrylic on canvas,
20 x 16 in., $1,300

Ripe Fruit, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16 in., $1,000

Fruitti, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in., $1,300

Ciudad engalanad para, 1996, acrylic
on canvas, 60 x 42 in., $3,700

Sleeping, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 in.
$1,300

Apple Man, 2012, acrylic on canvas,
20 x 16 in., $1,300

New Trip, 2010, acrylic on map on canvas
 10 x 8 in.,  $550

La Parca Escuchando Su Musica Preferida
2011, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 in., $1,300

Maquina De Cebar Mate, 2011
Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 in., $2,500

Sandwiched, 2010, acrylic on stamps on canvas
10 x 8 in., $550

Picaflor, 2010, acrylic on map on canvas, 12 x 12 in.
$850

Sad for Now, 2010, acrylic on map on canvas, 8 x 8 in.
$500

Solcito, 2010, mixed media on canvas, 5 x 5 in., $275

Wave, 2008, mixed media on canvas
14 x 11 in., $900

Lechuza, 2008, mixed media on canvas, 20 x 16 in.
$1,300

Michigan Cushion, 2007, mixed media on canvas
12 x 12 in., $850

Horse Watching a Woman Sleep, 2011, acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 in., $850

Caballo Gris, 2010, acrylic on canvas
48 x 36 in., $3,150

Journey, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 16 x 20 in.,
$1,300

Trampa, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 in., $1,600

Plug, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 12 x 12 in., $850

Flying and Smiling, 2008, mixed media on canvas
14 x 14 in., $1,050

Man and Woman, 1992
Drypoint ed. 8/15
23 x 13 in., $525 (unframed)

Flor, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 10 x 10 in., $650

Dark Green Cushion, 2007, mixed media on canvas
12 x 12 in., $850

Gulf of Mexico, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 12 x 12 in.
$850

Labyrinth 3050, 2007, mixed media on canvas
14 x 14 in., $1,050

Everlast, 1993, linocut ed. of 24, 17 1/2 x 24 in.
$500 (unframed)

Ocho Soles, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 24 x 36 in.
$2,100

Untitled, 2009, monotype, $625 (unframed)

Untitled, 2009, monotype, $625 (unframed)

Untitled, 2009, monotype, $650 (unframed)

Perrito, 2009, ed. of 13, $525 (unframed)

Perro Jugueton, 2009, ed. of 21, 18 x 22 in., $600

Perfil, 1994, monotype 6 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.
$475

In the Circus, 1994, etching ed. 5/40
23 3/4 x 29 1/2 in., $500

Untitled, 2009, monotype, $650 (unframed)

Lightness, 2008, linocut ed. of 12
30 x 22 in., $625

Ponchito's Ride, 2008, linocut ed. of 24
30 x 22 in., unframed $550, framed $675

Man With Ghosts, 1994, drypoint
25 x 1/2 x 18 in., $800

Puno, 1994, monotype, 10 1/2 x 7 in,
$575

Segundos Afuera, 1988, acrylic on linen
13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in., $900

Retrato, 1990, etching on found metal
$535

Pole Dance, 1992, acrylic on canvas
31 x 23 in., $1,950

El Triunfo de Poncho, 1993, linocut
Ed. of 16, 21 x 16 in., $600 (framed)
$450 (unframed)

Tango, 1987, acrylic and oil on canvas
31 x 23 in., $1,950

El Nacido, 1994, drypoint, 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.
$575

La Curata Pared, 1986, acrylic on canvas
 19 1/2 x 21 1/2 in., $1,650

Calesita I, 2001, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 in., $5,000

Yellow Maze, 2005, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in., $1,950

Untitled, 2009, monotype, $650 (unframed)

Bailarina, 1990
Etching, 16 1/2 x 8 in.
$650

Elsegundo de la Fila, 1988, acrylic on linen
13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in., $900

Some Kind of Ride, 1993, etching, 23 1/2 x 31 in.
$1,575

Adventuras de Una Elite, 1992-2000, acrylic on canvas
30 x 39 in., $2,450

Heavy Listening, 2011, acrylic on canvas
10 x 8 in., $550

El Nuevo Campeon, 1988, acrylic on canvas
13 3/4 x 10 1/2, $900

No Va Mas, 1988, acrylic on linen
13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in., $900

Un Poco De Sombra, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 5x 5 in, $275

Toro Bravo, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 5 x 5 in., $275

Lamparita, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 5 x 5 in., $275

Calida Quietud, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 in., $850

In Vino Veritas, 2011, acrylic on canvas
20 x 16 in., $1,300

Party Crasher, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in., $1,775

Tres hojas y un ojo, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 in.
$850

Puzzled, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 in.
$1,300

El ojo, 1996, acrylic on canvas,
60 x 42 in., $3,700

Hombre riendo, 1996, acrylic on canvas,
60 x 42 in., $3,700

Playing Solo, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in., $3,150

Tangofan I, 1996, acrylic on canvas,
60 x 42 in., $3,700

Woman on Top, 2002, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in.,
$3,150

Unforgettable, 2013, acrylic on stamps on canvas, 
12 x 12 in., $850

Arbol, 1992-2000, acrylic on canvas
30 x 23 in., $1,900

Untitled, 1994, drypoint, ed. of 2, 8 1/2 x 9 in., $600