Monotypes and More
October 14, 2021–June 26, 2022
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to announce Jedd Novatt: Monotypes and More, an exhibition of new small-scale sculptures and two-dimensional works on paper by Jedd Novatt. On view October 14, 2021–June 26, 2022, the exhibition offers an unparalleled opportunity to explore the relationship between the artist’s smaller sculptures and works on paper, his monumental outdoor works at PAMM, and the architecture of the museum first hand.
Novatt is known for his large-scale outdoor sculptures that are defined by their placement in the landscape. PAMM is home to two of these sculptures, Chaos Bizkaia (2012) and Chaos SAS (2013), which have become well-known fixtures in PAMM outdoor sculpture garden. Both works are centered around stacks of open bronze and stainless-steel cubes in dynamic, seemingly unstable towers measuring 18- and 14-feet-high, respectively.
Jedd Novatt: Monotypes and More represents the first time that Novatt’s wall drawings and smaller sculptures take center stage. Displayed within a gallery with a window that looks down upon Chaos SAS, one of his large-scale outdoor sculptures at PAMM, this is an unparalleled opportunity to capture the breadth of Novatt’s work in both two and three dimensions, creating a conversation between artworks in and outside the museum.
“With one sculpture positioned at our entrance doors on the north side and the other anchoring the north side of the campus within our Mary M. and Sash A. Spencer Garden, Novatt has been a crucial part of our campus since the building opened in 2013. This exploration of his well-known sculptures with works on paper and smaller sculptures is overdue, and we are delighted to be able to shed greater light on the artist and his work,” said PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans.
“Novatt’s work is about the way in which we interpret the present moment, and how we can do our part from keeping the chaos from becoming our future. The Huracán sculptures, through their title, reference natural and political chaos, which feels especially poignant here in South Florida,” said Maritza Lacayo, Exhibition Curator.
Fascinated, as a child, by the spatial explorations in paint of modern masters like Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, Novatt embraces that modernist spirit in his own sculpture-based art. He is known for sculptures of seemingly incongruous cubes teetering on top of each other, seemingly about to collapse if not welded together. Comprised of cubes with exposed voids, Novatt’s sculptures are as much about line and drawing in space as they are about occupying space with mass.
The idea of chaos is an important part of Novatt’s work. Many of his sculptures have the characteristic appearance of an inevitable dilapidation or downfall. However, that chaotic moment never arrives as the sculptures, whether built from two or three cubes or many, are actually in harmony with gravity and supported by the artist’s sound design. As Novatt says, “Politics is chaos. The present is important, and my work is speaking about what I experience today. How do you find grace in space, and experience, today? It’s a catastrophe that we are in the situation we are in today. How do you work in steel—such a cold, hard material, and give it grace? Without false balance…these voids land perfectly. It’s the moment before collapse. Not something that can be articulated. The world we are living in is the real chaos.”
This exhibition emphasizes PAMM’s commitment to continuing conversations with artists already in the museum’s permanent collection, finding new ways for artists to engage with the public. Novatt’’s iconic outdoor sculptures welcome visitors into the museum, and now, visitors will be given the unique opportunity to see his wall drawings and smaller sculptures inside the museum, a different facet of his artistic practice.
This show will be accompanied by a softcover catalog to be released at the opening of the exhibition.
Jedd Novatt: Monotypes and More is organized by Franklin Sirmans, Director, with Maritza Lacayo, Curatorial Assistant and Publications Coordinator. Lead individual support from an anonymous donor, and additional support from Burgess Modern + Contemporary, is gratefully acknowledged.
