Anna Novakov

Dwindling Tribe, 2022

Folkloric doll encased in wax and wood

4 x 6 inches

$350.

A folkloric doll embedded in melted wax and displayed in a hand-carved wooden box with a lid.

Back Story, 2022

3D printed figurine, copper gilding, chamomile, chamomile oil, brass stand, glass cloche

5 x 8 inches

$750.

A 3-D printed double-sided figurine, gilded with copper, sitting on a layer of chamomile flowers and displayed in a glass cloche.

Vested Interest, 2022

Velvet, silk, cotton, copper gilding

15 x 16 inches

$610.

An antique woman’s velvet and silk vest covered with copper gilding and displayed on a bamboo hanger.

Stoja, Jelica, Marija, Biljana, 2022

Encaustic, ink on paper and wood. 8 x 8 inches

$225.

A cradled wooden panel decorated with layers of paper and colored encaustic wax.

Snezana, 2022

Encaustic, ink on paper and wood. 8 x 8 inches

$225.

A cradled wooden panel decorated with layers of paper and colored encaustic wax.

Bojana, Mileva, Svetlana, 2022

Encaustic, ink on paper and wood. 8 x 8 inches

$225.

A cradled wooden panel decorated with layers of paper and colored encaustic wax.

Anica, Mirjana, 2022

Encaustic, ink on paper and wood. 8 x 8 inches

$225.

A cradled wooden panel decorated with layers of paper and colored encaustic wax.

Scents for Forgotten Countries, 2022

Glass test tubes, cork stoppers, stainless steel rack, scents

9.5 x 4.5 x 3 inches

$450.

Six clear glass test tubes with corks and displayed on a stainless-steel lab rack.

Narrative Strands, 2022

Ink on perforated paper

8.5 x 11 inches

$150.

This piece is a collection of miniature color images printed on perforated stamp paper.

Artist Bio

Anna Novakov is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, designer, curator and educator. She was born in Belgrade, Serbia in 1959 and was raised in Berkeley, California. Novakov was Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the San Francisco Art Institute and Saint Mary’s College of California before leaving academia to work as a multi-genre artist and writer. Novakov produces olfactory installations, wall works, screenplays and textiles. She currently retains studios in New York and Limoux, France.

The daughter of noted environmental physicist Tihomir Novakov, she was immersed in the Ecotopian dreams of air pollution control from an early age. She was raised in both the Socialist Utopia of post-war Yugoslavia and the free speech, counterculture movements of Berkeley, California. Both radical movements had profound influences on women’s rights, new technology and the built environment – areas of study that would form the basis of Novakov’s creative practice. In 1992, after completing her doctorate at New York University, she came to prominence in Manhattan as one of the first art critics to write about the interrelationship between art, technology and Utopian spaces.

A prolific writer, she has published numerous books, magazine articles and exhibition catalogues including Veiled Histories: The Body, Place and Public Art (1996) and Carnal Pleasures: Desire, Contemporary Art and Public Space (1998), The Artistic Legacy of Le Corbusier’s machine à habiter (2008), Essays on Womens’ Artistic and Cultural Contributions 1919-1939: Expanded Social Roles for the New Woman following the First World War (2009), Phantom Architecture: Essays on Interwar Architecture in Belgrade (2011), Play of Lines: Anton Azbe’s Art Academy and Education of East European Female Painters (2011), : Talking Points: Conversations about Art, Gender and Public Space (2012), Diplomatic Ties: Pavle Beljanski, Patronage and Serbian Women Artists (2012), Flat Horizon: The Art and Life of Milan Konjović (2014) and Imagined Utopias in the Built Environment: From London’s Vauxhall Garden to the Black Rock Desert (2017).

Her creative practice focuses on the transitory modalities of the olfactory, literary and textile arts. As an artist and certified perfumer, Novakov is able to unpack events through a multisensory artistic lens by examining seemingly inconsequential things, such as the smells of outdoor markets and historic recipes. While her creative practice focuses on conceptual perfumery and textile design she is also invested in the role of scent in the construction of personal and collective memories, fragrance as an aspect of Utopian societies and cooking as a socio-political act.