steve novick

sculpture

My process involves assemblage of found objects and materials. Collecting these—from thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets—is an important facet of my work. In this phase, I often will undertake the use of a new item or form, or realize the solution to a previously intractable problem.

Although the physical resolution of my sculptures may be quick, the ideas behind them tend to gestate slowly. Simple items, and parts of more complex ones, are fitted together via a process of trial, error, and serendipity. Cleaning, polishing, and refinishing aside, nearly all objects and materials are used as-is. Plaster objects are cast from found molds.

My influences—cartoons, folk art, surrealism, minimalism—are evident in the work's straightforward use of materials, simplicity of form, anthropomorphism, and sense of humor. Recent themes include the construction of language and symbols (visual and otherwise), nature as interpreted through culture, nostalgia, and obsolescence.

painting

Despite the difference in medium, my paintings retain many of the features of my sculpture: simple imagery, strong notes of color, a minimal number of elements.

A concern with space continues, and a sense of atmosphere and light stands in tension with hard-edged shape and textured surface. In spite of this reductive vocabulary, a narrative is often implied, and ideas about language—both verbal and pictorial—seep in.

collages

These digital and traditional collages derive from stock and magazine photos. They involve a simple manipulation: slicing out part or all of the faces or heads, then splicing the remainder of the image together.

The resulting pictures are the fruits of eliminating (or more properly, effacing) what is normally considered the most important part of a portrait.  What remains is still evocative, in some measure due to the mystery of what, exactly, has been lost.