BRIAN NOVATNY
Artist Statement
The artist creates an enigmatic and pensive world on his canvases and wood panels, using figurative painting and abstracted imagery to weave a mood of isolation and contemplation. Even when the works contain more than one figure, each figure seems to be alone in his or her own controlled world. The emphasis lies on the central figure or figures, with minimal and sophisticated brightly patterned surroundings. Novatny’s paintings appear as simple images initially, yet upon further reflection the intimacy and complexity unfold. Novatny, an M.F.A. graduate of Yale University, speaks about the state of human isolation in his meticulously executed work.
Jeff Daniel says, “These are nameless, mechanical people, all looking alike-but there is something very personable and touching here. Perhaps this stems from Novatny’s sense of whimsy, a playful sense of painting and design that mixes with a Kafka-esque mood of citizens trapped in a controlled world.”
Novatny has exhibited in Germany, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Seattle and Raleigh, NC. His work is in prestigious private and public collections and he is a recipient of the Basil Alkazzi Award in Painting. The artist has also exhibited at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and at the Albright Knox. He is in the permanent collections of the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.
Jeff Daniel says, “These are nameless, mechanical people, all looking alike-but there is something very personable and touching here. Perhaps this stems from Novatny’s sense of whimsy, a playful sense of painting and design that mixes with a Kafka-esque mood of citizens trapped in a controlled world.”
Novatny has exhibited in Germany, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Seattle and Raleigh, NC. His work is in prestigious private and public collections and he is a recipient of the Basil Alkazzi Award in Painting. The artist has also exhibited at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and at the Albright Knox. He is in the permanent collections of the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.
