David Novros, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas panels, 1965
Artist/Maker:
David Novros
Bio:
American, b. 1941
Title:
Untitled
Date:
1965
Medium:
Acrylic on canvas panels
Dimensions:
114 × 56 1/2 × 2 in. (289.6 × 143.5 × 5.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Gift of The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation
Accession Number:
2021-17a-b

Not On View

David Novros made Untitled the first year he lived in New York City. To describe shaped, multicomponent canvases like this one—which he continued to make through the end of the 1960s—he used the term “portable mural.”

Novros centers his practice on what he terms “painting as place,” an idea that took root during a trip to Europe between 1963 and 1964. The painted architecture he saw at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, for example, suggested a new kind of painting that expanded beyond the rectangular frame. Like many of his peers, Novros considers the wall the ground for his paintings. The artist tests painting’s ability to exist as both object and image, a physical thing and an intangible idea. He plays with these seemingly opposing concepts, making work that engages viewers’ bodies and their eyes, orienting them to the work in space as well as to the space itself.

Information may change as a result of ongoing research.

1109 5th Ave at 92nd St
New York, NY 10128

212.423.3200
info@thejm.org

Sign up to receive updates about our exhibitions, upcoming events, our restaurant, and more!

Sign up