Biography

Born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1976, Brad Novak is an urban artist whose work sits sharply at the nexus between fine art and street art. Under the moniker 'New Blood Pop', His one-of-a-kind, hand-collaged and stencil-spray-painted works involve the layering of popular imagery. Novak uses popular culture, specifically the depiction of celebrities from the hyper-inflated world of American stardom. Icons such as Harrison Ford and Marilyn Monroe inhabit his creations. Their iconography is underpinned by the use of repetitive images of fellow superstars, such as Carrie Fisher and Christopher Reeve. While living in London in the early 2000s the urban and street art scenes greatly influenced Novak's work. Additionally Richard Hamilton's manifesto on Pop Art provided inspiration. Novak, however, combined his love for street and pop art to create his urban series - the self-titled 'New Blood Pop'. His works, while at first glance visually striking, call for a paradigm shift in the way we experience life itself. Our over-reliance on science and technology has taught humanity to see the world through a dreamlike state which causes suffering. Many of Novak’s works depict people shedding tears formed from computer circuitry. The artist calls this ‘subconscious escapism’ – the loss of our collective minds. However, Novak challenges us to reconnect with reality by practicing mindfulness – getting out of our heads so to speak.