novy

On a blustery Sunday, street artist Jeremy Novy wrestled with wind-whipped stencils as he added details to a mural on the Hi-Ho Lounge at 2239 St. Claude Ave. in the Marigny neighborhood. The aerosol painting depicted a flock of life-sized, Crayon green Monk parakeets coursing across a black brick background…

People have asked me for years what is the meaning or purpose of the koi I stencil on sidewalks across America. Well the answer may be simple but it has a lot of meanings both to me as a person and to the symbols of harmony, strength, good fortune, friendship,…

Jeremy Novy’s eighteen-year stint stenciling and wheatpasting hasn’t been the easiest. Navigating a scene that has long been cis-bro and homophobic, Novy’s dedicated duration to creating sidewalk koi, queer CareBears, bondage boys and other relics of colorful camp loudly and proudly has upped queer visibility in street art. Celebrating pop…

San Francisco based street artist Jeremy Novy is a pioneer in the Queer Street Art movement. His in-your-face street art, which has featured (but is not limited to) drag queens, penises and homosexual imagery has made headlines across the country. Novy funneled that attention into curating an exhibit called “A…

San Francisco based street artist Jeremy Novy is a pioneer in the Queer Street Art movement. His in-your-face street art, which has featured (but is not limited to) drag queens, penises and homosexual imagery has made headlines across the country. Novy funneled that attention into curating an exhibit called “A…

"Queer street art has always been an oppressed art form," he says. "We are not taggers. We're street artists. This is for social change. It's about doing something better."

Scribbling in a language of doodles, stencils and graffiti, Novy uses underground street art to honor San Francisco's gay history. Much as Keith Haring's anonymous chalk drawings in the New York subways drew attention to gay culture in the 1980s, Novy is emerging as San Francisco's street whisperer.