Jeremy Novy’s unique brand of street art is ripe with thoughtful social examinations. Novy has combated a homophobic lack of representation with a celebration of gay iconography, bringing joviality and warmth to disused urban spaces.
With a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, he curated the first major exhibition of its kind, “A History of Queer Street Art,” premiered in San Francisco in 2011 and later toured to Pop Up Gallery in Los Angeles and Yale University.
Since graduating from Pecks School of the Arts, Novy’s art has been met with acclaim across the country. His work has benefited non-profit foundations, advocacy organizations, and community service programs and has been featured in numerous films, books, publications, and collections public and private.
His stencil work is cogent in its messaging and remarkably complex for its compositional simplicity—like the koi fish of his most-established series which, floating beneath the surface of concrete, refer to anti-authoritarian coded symbols in Chinese art under communism.
His pioneering images of drag queens, physique pictorials, and pornography bring to life the multiplicity of modern identity, reminding us that the we, each of us, must walk the streets of our cities in collective solidarity. (Excerpt from Artsy)
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Education
2008 Bachelor of Fine Arts: Photography, Pecks School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, WI
2004 Associates of Applied Science: Graphic Technologies, Designer, Gateway Technical College – Elkhorn, WI
Scholarships/Awards/Honors
2013 Best Public Art of 2013, Milwaukee Magazine, Milwaukee, WI
2011 StreetSmARTS program, San Francisco Arts Commission and Department of Public Works, San Francisco, CA
2011 Sisters Grant, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, San Francisco, CA
2011 NEA Grant, National Queer Arts Festival, Queer Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
2006 Mary E. Van Deven Memorial Scholarship, Pecks School of the Arts, Milwaukee, WI
Current Representation
Vertical Gallery 1016 North Western Avenue, Chicago, IL
Art Attack SF 2358 Market Street, San Francisco, CA
The Waxwing 1800 East North Avenue, Milwaukee, WI
Where Y’Art Gallery 1901 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA
Solo Exhibits
2017 Koi invade MPLS, Amalgamated MPLS, Minneapolis, MN
2017 Nature as Graffiti, The Arts Center of Cannon County, Woodbury, TN
2014 Looking Back, Lush Life Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Lets Meet, San Francisco LGBT Center, San Francisco, CA
2010 DIYbca, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2010 Tingle Tangel, Café Du Nord, San Francisco, CA
2010 Art Attack Queer Revolution, SupperClub, San Francisco, CA
2009 Be The Change You Want To See In The World, Revolution Café, San Francisco, CA
2009 Do It Yourself, Cafe Trieste, San Francisco, CA
Group Exhibits
2017 BXNY + NOLA, Brand New Orleans Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2016 Big Stuff, Small Stuff, Three Ravens, San Francisco, CA
2016 1900 Block, Where Y”Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2013 A History of Queer Street Art, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2012 Fuck Art, Museum of Sex, New York, NY
2012 I Am Crime: Art on the Edge of Law, SOMArts Center, San Francisco, CA
2012 A History of Queer Street Art, Pop Up Shop, Los Angeles, CA
2011 A History of Queer Street Art, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
2011 Warhol Reimagined, Project One, San Francisco, CA
2010 Classy as Fuck, Submission Art Space, San Francisco, CA
2010 E.A.C., Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Broken Meter, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Fuck the Recession, Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 Decay, Sixth Street Gallery, Vancouver, WA
2008 Seeing Green: Art, Ecology and Activism in Milwaukee, Woodland Pattern Books, Milwaukee, WI
2008 35th Annual Juried Exhibit, Union Art Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2008 Growth and Decay: Change in an Urban Environment, Borg Ward Collective, Milwaukee, WI
2008 Visions of Utopia and Dystopia: A Photographic Exhibition, Fine Arts Center Gallery, Waukesha, WI
2007 At: Present, Helene Zelazo Center, Milwaukee, WI
2007 Paper Politics, Walkers Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, WI
2007 Paper Cuts, Pickled Art Center, Beijing, China
2007 Halpert Biennial ’07, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Boone, NC
2007 Venice Ball Exhibition, Kenilworth Square, Milwaukee, WI
2006 Rebooted, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
2006 Crossing Over 2006, Union Art Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2006 In Your Face, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
2006 Ideas for a Better World, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
2006 2006 Collegiate Competition, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Commissions
2017 Transformation, The Arts Center of Cannon County, Woodbury, TN
2017 Koi Pond, CNBC “The Deed”, New Orleans, LA
2016 Community Room, Mercy Housing, Milwaukee, WI
2016 Art Basel, Wynwood Art District, Miami, FL
2016 Saint Sebastion, Tom of Finland Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Madison Pride, Woofs Bar, Madison, WI
2016 Migration, Black Cat Alley, Milwaukee, WI
2016 Sparrows, Poesia Resturant, San Francisco, CA
2016 Flight, The Waxwing, Milwaukee, WI
2015 Monk Parrot Mural, Hi-Ho Lounge, New Orleans, LA
2015 Swiming in Pride, Good Vibrations, San Francisco, CA
2015 Hockney Bathroom, San Francisco Decorator Showcase, San Francisco, CA
2014 A Koi Take Over, Frenchmen Art Market, New Orleans, LA
2014 Seagulls for Landfills, 2175 Market, San Francisco, CA
2014 China Town Mural, San Francisco Department of Public Works, San Francsico, CA
2013 Peaches Christ, HBO “Looking”, San Francisco, CA
2012 A Community of Ants, Compas Family Shelter, San Francisco, CA
2012 21 Enigma, Eiko’s Sushi Bar, Napa, CA
2012 Leatherman, Stud Bar, San Francisco, CA
2011 Public Works Mural, The Public Works, San Francisco, CA
2011 Zen Pond, Farmer Dentist Office, San Francisco, CA
2011 Haight and Lauguna Murul, Vapor Room, San Francisco, CA
2011 Drummer Magazine, Truck, San Francisco, CA
2010 Patrick Cowley Records, Honey Soundsystem, San Francisco, CA
2010 Zen Koi, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2010 Madonna Corset, Trannyshack, San Francisco, CA
2010 Sam Storicks, Bearracuda, San Francisco, CA
2010 Koi on a Mansion, Pabst Mansion, Milwaukee, WI
2010 Institutionalized, SupperClub, San Francisco, CA
2010 Pride Care Bears, Lone Star Saloon, San Francisco, CA
2008 Lilac Alley Koi, Mission Art 415, San Francisco, CA
2008 State Street Theater Project, SoHi District, Milwaukee, WI
Publications
2014 Marche, Guillaume, “Local Democracy and Public Spaces in Contrast”, Democracy, Participation, Contestation, Paris, France
2014 Sonoma Index, “Drag Queens and Koi Stencils at Epicurean Connection”, The Sonoma Index-Tribute, Sonoma, CA
2014 Garretón, Alexandra, “Art and/or Vanalism”, Missionlocal.org, San Francisco, CA
2013 Carr, Adam, “Detroit, Santiago Cucullu, Jeremy Novy”, Art City Radio, Milwaukee, WI
2013 Frommer’s, “1970’s Gay Rights”, Frommer’s San Francisco 2013, San Francisco, CA
2013 Miller, Brandon, “Koi Story”, Wisconsin Gazette, Milwaukee, WI
2013 McNamara, Michael, “Bareback Pornography and Queer Survival” ,The Moral Panics of Sexuality, New ork, NY
2012 Thorn, “Rogue Art”, Instigator Magazine, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Shucart, Brenden, “Painting The Town”, Out There Magazine, London, UK
2011 Curiel, Jonathan, “A Movement Defaced”, SF Weekly, San Francisco, CA
2010 May, Meredith, “S.F. Artist Jeremy Novy thrives in outdoor gallery”, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA
2010 IC Staff, “Outcast artist tag Glass City Canvas”, IndependentCollegian.com
2009 Webyrbanist Staff, “Off the Wall Graffiti: 11 Artist Making Odd Marks”, Weburbanist.com
2009 Kline, Danielle and Mahmoud, Jasmine, “Interventional Art”, The Arts Politic, New York, NY
2009 Rotman, Steve, “San Francisco Street Art,” Prestel Press, San Francisco, CA
2008 Fabishak, Miles, “It Takes Acceptance,” Independent Film, Milwaukee, WI
2007 Dunegan, Peggy Sue, “Off the cuff,” Shepherd Express, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2007 Bob Bach, “Storefronts to Become Art Exhibits”, WUWM 89.7, Milwaukee, WI
2007 Jay Hedblade and Robin Cherry, “The Morning Show”, WYMS 88.9, Milwaukee, WI
2007 MATA Education Project Video, “Jeremy Novy’s “Typewriter Storefront”, MATA, Milwaukee, WI
2007 Heiser, Jennifer, “Restorative artist begins public art on North 27th Street,” Street Beacon, Milwaukee, WI
2007 O’hara, Ert, “Jeremy Novy,” Juxtapoz.com, San Francisco, CA
2007 Snyder, Molly, “Novy’s art adorns abandon buildings, aims for change.” OnMilwaukee.com, Milwaukee, WI
2006 Murrell, K.M., “A look at 3 independent public art projects in Milwaukee.” Susceptible to Images, Milwaukee, WI
2006 Purvis, Bob, “Doorways for Hope,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, WI
Collections
GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco, CA
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
The Leather Archive, Chicago, IL
Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco, CA
Micaela Gallery: 49 Geary, San Francisco, CA
Hal Fischer, San Francisco, CA
John Mc Givern, Milwaukee, WI
Joe Pabst, Milwaukee, WI
© 2023 Jeremy Novy.
