2025.07.02 - 2025.07.31

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For a long time, NOVO has painted the things he holds dear - basketballs, paper airplanes, sneakers, Hello Kitty, and old stickers that have lost their shine. Some have been with him since childhood. Others have resurfaced only recently.

 

He collects objects, but not just to own them. His way of collecting is closer to remembering. Objects lead him back to emotions, and emotions guide his images. The scenes that emerge feel personal, yet familiar. Like something that could have belonged to anyone.

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This exhibition, More Bounce, More Hope, traces the emotional rhythms he has returned to again and again. “Bounce” doesn’t just describe the motion of a ball. It’s the reflex of the body, the push against the ground, the kind of energy that makes you laugh before you think. NOVO believes hope begins somewhere in that bounce.

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His paintings show his distinctive style in many forms. While some works begin from the format of still life, they quickly move beyond it. NOVO deliberately steps away from traditional perspective or realistic depth, embracing a flat visual space where objects coexist without hierarchy or distance. This compositional flatness gives his work a quiet intensity—memories laid out evenly, without illusion. A drawing on a USPS envelope, a line thrown loosely across a sketchbook, textures collaged from everyday things. These are not imagined. They are drawn from real time, and real life.

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The objects in his work are never just things. They carry feelings. They are pieces of time. Some appear for the first time, charged with strong memories. Others return over and over, layered with affection or quiet changes. NOVO uses images in place of words. He borrows the format of still life, but fills it with human feeling. Moments of laughter long ago, or days that felt good for no clear reason. Standing in front of his work, you might find yourself recalling those kinds of things. If a memory begins to glow somewhere in your heart, then NOVO’s bounce has done its job.

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NOVO is still drawing the things he loves. And he believes that’s enough.