Gabriella Novak (born 1982 in Silesia, Poland) lives and works in Stockholm. Gabriella Novak currently works with painting, which incorporates performance alongside other experimental working methods. During the creation itself, the artist’s body can be replaced in part by machines that she often builds herself, or, as she calls them, with “artificial bodies.” Science and technology are Novak’s great fascinations, and by using those possibilities she explores the material and intangible. The permanent and impermanent.
A central theme in Novak’s previous work is violence as a social construction and exploitation of the female body, she has worked with video, photo, performance, readymades whereby she used her own body and various objects linked to or signifying violence, in order to illuminate its constructions.
This previous work with the body developed into her current practice, the body and embodiment being central.
Gabriella Novak has an BFA from the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts and currently doing an MA in the same academy. She has also background in physical theatre, art and film history, the philosophy of photography and the psychology of religion.
Novak has participated in group exhibitions and art projects around Sweden, and abroad. This year, Novak has also been awarded a scholarship from Eva and Hugo Bergman’s Memorial Fund through the Royal Academy.
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EDUCATION
2020-22 Master in Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå (Sweden)
2013-16 Bachelor in Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå (Sweden)
2011-12 Art History, Film studies, Gävle University (Sweden)
2010-11 Photography, Valand Academy, HFF, Gothenburg. (Sweden)
2011-12 Philosophy of photography I, II, Karlstad University (Sweden)
2013-16 Kandidatexamen i fri konst, Konsthögskolan i Umeå, (Sverige)
2011-13 Konsthistoria, Filmhistoria, Universitet i Gävle, (Sverige)
2010-11 Fotografi, Högskolan för fotografi, Konsthögskolan Valand, Göteborg, (Sverige)
2011-12 Fotografins filosofi I, II, Karlstads Universitetet, (Sverige)
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SHOWS / PROJECTS (SELECTED)
2020 Show Close distance, with artist Audrey Hurd, curated by Edit Fándly & Gabriella Novak, Flat Octopus, Stockholm
2020 Performance, SUPERLOCAL 2020, Super Market Art Fair, Kapsylen, Stockholm
2020 Group Show and performance, Glasgalleriet, Ludvika, (Sweden)
2019 Performance Earth ritual with NKK, The Art Market, Mossutställningar, Stockholm
2018 Performance with Personal Space, workshop by Shiva Anoushirvani, Pals Performance Art, Links, Fylkingen, Stockholm
2018 Performance Kungörelse with NKK, Moderna museet, Stockholm
2017 Performance with Personal Space, 7th Contexts International Festival of Ephemeral Art, Sokolowsko, (Poland)
2017 Group Show, Workshop, Part of exhibition by Maja Bekan, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, (Poland)
2015-19 Running a performance group Personal Space with Mariusz Andrzejczyk
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ASSISTANT
2020 Cecilia Edefalk
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GRANTS
IAPSIS, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Konstnärsnämnden (Sweden)
2020 – Royal Academy, Konstakademin (Sweden)
2020 – Stiftelsen Petersenska Hemmet (Sweden)
2020 – Carl Erik Levins Stiftelse (Sweden)
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MEMBER
The Swedish Artists National Organisation, Konstnärernas Riksorganisation (KRO), New Artist Club, Nya Konstnärsklubben (NKK)