Jack Novosel

Artist Statement

The Dance
Monoprint, 13” x 15”, 2026

Inspired by André Derain’s The Dance (1906),Jean Noblet’s Death tarot card (c. 1650), and Fauvism, The Dance (monoprint) depicts the transgender experience of personal and social transformation.

The Death card in 17th century tarot was much more literal, but in modern times this card takes a more transformative role with new life coming from loss. Dancing upon Noblet’s symbology of sprigs of multi-colored flora, the scythe, and heads laying at the foot of the figure, the hair-covered feminine nude of The Dance (monoprint) transforms the message of death into a message of intentional transformation. Derain’s snake appears underfoot, now holding a strawberry in its mouth, a nod to the message of loss and transformation in Operating Theater’s song Spring is Coming with a Strawberry in the Mouth.

André Derain’s exploration with Fauvism depicts color not strictly bound to reality and the movement itself allowed artists at the time to question their obligation to visual cohesion and depict an entirely new way of seeing the world and what art could be. This fauvist belief that color can express emotional and psychological truth beyond the visible world resonates with the experience of dabbling in gender-bending pursuits that defy social norms and create a colorful, abundant identity. Like the radical painters of the early twentieth century who rejected naturalistic color to imagine new possibilities for art, The Dance (monoprint) proposes that gender transition similarly resists this rigid system of classification in trade for a brighter and more complex future.

Jack Novosel Artist Statement
Growing up in an old house with walls covered in 1800s, 1900s landscapes and portraits, I found myself trying to understand where I existed in this wealth of historical art context. I am still finding myself deeply rooted to a collaborative conversation with art’s representational past rather than leaving it completely behind.
I think that creativity needs a structure to be nurtured within, and when it comes time, I love breaking out of that structure. As I struggle to find my place in the more contemporary lines of conceptual visual work, I find myself making the art I want to see and not getting lost in what my art should look like.
In the same way I break out, I look to fold back in. I work to actively address contemporary problems while using modified visual tools of the past.
Artists and thinkers I liken myself to are current classicalist Walton Ford, German expressionist Franz Marc, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, and pioneer woman artist Georgia O'Keeffe.
Currently I am using classical grounding to work against bodily objectification by subverting the nude and elevating it again through using the presentation of animals. As my presence as a trans person and other LGTBQIA people become more threatened under the current national administration, I look to defang the fears of trans bodies that permeate conservative trends and uphold the natural beauty of the body.