Jedd Novatt

The manipulation of sculptural space is one of Jedd Novatt’s primary concerns, and he has explored the theme extensively, often playing with ideas of internal and external space as well as challenging traditional notions of structure and stability. In a recent interview Novatt described this focus: ‘Ultimately I’m interested in carving space, and to a large degree describing or breaking the plane of space. How do you crack a space? How is the space as a volume, a form? [...] for me, even in monumental work, it’s about how am I altering space or thinking about space, volume’ (quoted in Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, ‘15 Questions with Jedd Novatt’, Blouin Artinfo, 9th November 2014, online resource).

One of his celebrated Chaos series, Chaos Meteoro encapsulates these ideas in its intricate fusion of linear and quadratic forms and its towering, vertiginous structure. Novatt juxtaposes the material solidity of the bronze against the sense of weightlessness inherent in the apparently gravity-defying structure to create a work of remarkable dynamism and energy.

Other examples from the Chaos series are on permanent display at the Campa de los Ingleses near the Guggenheim in Bilbao, La Piscine Musée d’Art et d’Industrie in Roubaix, France and the Pérez Art Museum in Miami.