Dena Novak: Pushing the Boundaries of Paint
Sensory Integration, 36 in x 48 in, oil on panel
Artist Dena Novak
Garden of my Neurodiversity, 60 x60 in, oil on panel
My Telomers are Fraying, 60 in x 48 in , oil on panel
Still-Life with Dissociation, 60 in x 48 in, oil on panel
Instagram: @denanovak
Dena Novak celebrates the materiality of paint in her vibrant, highly textured and complex compositions. Intuitively guided, Novak allows herself to create freely as she embraces chance and spontaneity.
Titles of paintings such as Sensory Integration and Garden of my Neurodiversity reference Novak’s diagnosis with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Her thick application of paint stands in contrast to the thinning of her body’s connective tissue. Through her work, Novak explores both fear and hope.
How and when did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I have known my whole life, it’s all I ever really wanted to do, was to be an artist and art teacher. When I was younger, I used to draw all the time and paint, and was acknowledged for being a good artist in school. There is nothing else that made as much sense as art. I have understood the visual language from the beginning.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
I look at a ton of work online by abstract painters, L.A. Artists: David Llyod, @houseoflloyd; Brain Rochefort, @energygloop; Lavaughan Jenkins @lavaughanjenkins_studio and Micheal Harnish @MichaelHarnish. So, I am lucky enough to go to amazing art openings and see emerging artists and established artists. Another influence are the The Ninth Street abstract expressionist women painters: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler.
My inspiration is the world around me. Ceramics, nature, science and looking at art. I was a ceramic artist for many years and I became an abstract painter afterwards, the ceramics influences my work heavily. I approach my canvas as though it is glaze and clay. In addition, I layer my paint very thick, sometimes three to four inches, and I carve into it with my clay tools. I close my eyes and dance and have music and I start painting. So, all of my works begin with dance.
My approach to things is out of the box to begin with. Any time you look at alternate ways to do something you are using imagination. I am approaching painting in an alternate way. I am an intuitive painter. I follow the lead of the paint. I paint the paint.
What themes do you explore in your work?
Neurodiversity, materiality, themes of the body, nature, biology and botany. On another perspective, I am pushing the boundaries of oil paint. I create paintings that are four of five inches thick, that are still paintings but verge, perhaps on the sculptural.
How do you start a new painting?
I start with a dance and any music I like. I put the painting on the floor and start pushing the paint and seeing what the base of the painting is and what emerges.
Which experiences have impacted your work as an artist most?
There are two things. My recent diagnosis with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Autism diagnosis last year. Both of these diagnoses helped me to embrace my neurodiversity. Part of the reason my work is so thick is because my body is lacking in collagen, so that’s the materiality, the thickness I am exploring. So, the paintings are my “body of work”.
Due the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome I live in chronic pain and my hands affected, I was losing fine motor skills in my hands, which resulted in my painting predominantly with a pallet knife which became my voice.
What advice do you have for newer artist just getting started with their career?
Listen to your inner voice and intuition.
What are your future goals and aspirations as an artist?
I am going to school this fall for my M.F.A. in painting at Otis College of Art. A goal is be a college professor and role model for the neurodiverse population in college. Instead of looking at neurodiversity as a negative that needs accommodations but looking at it as the super power that drives your creativity. Everybody has an inner voice and I think the whole purpose of the art is to get to your authentic inner voice. I want to be a “showing artist”.