GINA NOVENDSTERN

Internationally recognized sculptor Gina Novendstern’s work focuses on how interior and exterior environments define each of us and uses the human form to explore  those questions.

​Born in the United States, and living and working for most of her life in New York City, Novendstern lived in Mexico for three years during the 80’s assisting a Mexican artist in producing monumental figurative sculptures. During that time, Novendstern continued to experiment with her own visual expression while also exhibiting her sculpture. Although returning to New York to live, she frequently returned to central Mexico to live and work..  Shehas taught workshops on sculpture patina and surface treatment techniques in   the New York area and in Mexico.

Showcasing twenty-three of her sculptures in 2008, the MACAY Museum of Contemporary Art in Merida, Mexico organized "Interior Visions-Exterior Reflections," a three-month exhibit of her work. The museum also produced a public television documentary about her.

In a 2010 international exhibit at the National Gallery of Fine Art in the Dominican Republic, Novendstern represented the United States with ten of her sculptures.

Presently completing a series of figures contained within wood and metal structures, Novendstern is also working on several public art proposals while continuing to show her work.

​Novendstern’s sculptures are in museums and galleries and in both public and private collections around the world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

In elementary school I played with little rubber eraser figures that I kept hidden in my school desk. I moved them around and created a variety of emotionally charged scenarios by having them interact with each other in landscapes made of pencils, paper and books. I was fascinated by the way I could make them say so many different things and that fascination has fueled my work as a sculptor.

My work explores the interior and exterior environments that influence our strengths and weaknesses. The figures I make and incorporate in the work are usually not anatomically complete, and at times they may simply be heads or legs. I am interested in paring down the figure's form, and expanding its expression. As I work there are always many figures in various stages of completion, as well as pieces of steel, wood or stone in the process of being constructed or deconstructed. By using the same figure in different works, with different structures, materials and surface treatments, I adapt and define the figure's voice within each work and control the tone and content of the work. My focus throughout this process is to question and investigate the changing schema of how we view ourselves, the reflections of ourselves in others, and the world we inhabit.

 SOLO AND MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

2019 Museo Fernando Ponce Garcia, Macay, Merida, Mexico
2014 The Peter Gray Art Museum, Costa University, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
2010 The National Gallery of Fine Art, Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic
2008 The Museum of Contemporary Art (MACAY) Merida, Mexico
1994 Galeria Arriba, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022

The Hillman Garden Sculpture Exhibit, New York, New York 
The Barret Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
ESP Gallery, Tampa, Florida
Rosen Lopez Gallery, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2021

ESP Gallery, Tampa, Florida
Six Summit Gallery, Westbrook, Connecticut
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2020 Annmarie Sculpture Garden, Solomons, Maryland
2019  ESP Gallery, New York, New York

The Barret Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Six Summit Gallery, Ivoryton, Connecticut

2018

ESP Gallery, New York, New York
The Barret Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Rosen Lopez Gallery, Puerto Vallarta

2017

The George Segal Gallery, Montclair, New Jersey
Rosen Lopez Gallery, Puerto Vallarta
Six Summit Gallery, Ivoryton, Connecticut

2016

Six Summit Gallery event, New York, New York

2015

ESP Gallery New York, New York
Six Summit Gallery, Ivoryton, Connecticut
Rosen Lopez Gallery, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2014

Six Summit Gallery, Ivoryton, Connecticut
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2013

Six Summit Gallery, Ivoryton, Connecticut
ESP Gallery, New York, New York
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2012

ESP Gallery, New York, New York
Moda Espresso Gallery, New York, New York
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2011

The Commons Gallery, NYU School of Art, New York, New York
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2010

Asher Neiman Gallery, Redbank, New Jersey
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2009

Susan Fredman Design/Marwen Art Foundation, Chicago, Illinois
Asher Neiman Gallery, Redbank, New Jersey
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2008

Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Asher Neiman Gallery, Redbank, New Jersey

2007

Artforms Gallery, Redbank, New Jersey
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Galeria Constandense, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2006

Artforms Gallery, Redbank, New Jersey
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Galeria Constandense, Cuernavaca, Mexico
Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina

2005

Carpediem Art Gallery, Califon, New Jersey
Grace Fine Art, Morristown, New Jersey
Clifton Art Center, Clifton, New Jersey Artforms Gallery
Redbank, New Jersey and Woodstock, New York
​Drue Chryst Gallery, Lake Mohawk, New Jersey
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2004

Ocean County College Gallery, Toms River, New Jersey
Artforms Gallery, Redbank, New Jersey and Woodstock, New York
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2003

Drue Chryst Gallery, Lake Mohawk, New Jersey
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2002

Ocean County College Gallery, Toms River, New Jersey
Pace University, Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, New York, NY
Evolve Designer Arts, Fairhaven, New Jersey
Galleria Dante, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2001

Drue Chryst Gallery, Lake Mohawk, New Jersey

2000

Tristan and America, New York, New York
Drue Chryst Gallery, Lake Mohawk, New Jersey

1999

Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, New York, New York
Cooper Gallery, Jersey City, New Jersey

1998

Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, New York, New York
Ciao Gallery, City Island, New York

1997

Cooper Gallery, Jersey City, New Jersey
Ciao Gallery, City Island, New York

1996

Lever House Gallery, New York, New York
Williams Center for the Arts, Rutherford, New Jersey
The Arts Center of Northern New Jersey, New Milford, New Jersey

1995

E. Rubinstein Gallery, New York, New York
Lever House Gallery, New York, New York

1994

Schering-Plough Corporate Gallery, Madison, New Jersey
The Principle Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia

1993

The Paterson Museum, Paterson, New Jersey
The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, New York
Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, New York
The Arts Center of Northern New Jersey, New Milford, New Jersey

1987

Centro de Artes Jardín Borda, Cuernavaca, Mexico


SELECTED PUBLICATIONS, REVIEWS & CATALOGS

2012  

"MACAY Museum of Contemporary Art, 15 Years", pages 412-414, published by Macay Cultural Foundation, Merida, Mexico

2010

Catalog - The National Gallery of Fine Art, The Dominican Republic, July - August, 2010
“The Intimacy of Memory-12 Artists from the Continent”
“The Intimacy of Memory- An Exhibit to Remember”, Marianne de Tolentino, Director of the National Gallery of the Domincan Republic, Hoy Digital, 07/23/10
“The Intimacy of Memory-Twelve Artists from the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic”, Virginia Goris, Listin Diario, 08/04/10

2008

“Gina Novendstern and Human Nature” Elena Rojas, El Sol de Cuatla, 06/12/08
“Looking Inward and Outward-Gina Novendstern confronts the Duality of Human Nature” Oscar Munoz, Diario de Yucatan, 03/26/08
Public Television Documentary “Gina Novendstern - Interior Vision-Exterior Reflection” produced by the MACAY Museum, Mexico, February 2008
“The Unfolding Human Experience Inspires a Series of Sculptures”, Iris Ceballos Alvarado, Diario de Yucatan, 01/13/08
​Catalog for solo exhibit - MACAY Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico, January-March 2008 “Gina Novendstern- Inner Vision-Exterior Reflection"