Portrait Commissions Available

January 4, 2021

Portrait commissions are available. No modeling experience needed, and no need to sit for long periods of time because reference photos suffice! Contact Lucas Novak for more details.

48” x 36”, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2021

Here is an example of a figure painting completed in January, 2021. The balance between beauty, vulnerability, and mystery is a timeless feeling, like finding a wild flower beside a waterfall on a cold mountain. A quiet peacefulness with a trace of sadness. It is not something people experience every day, but it is something people remember. What I enjoyed about painting this subject was the way she crossed her arms and feet, with downcast eyes and tilted head, holding her body in a manner that suggested vulnerability or sadness. She sat naturally and gracefully as the sheet flowed over her like water or cream.

Her pose also evokes mystery because the viewer wants to see her eyes and full figure which is blocked only by the loose flowing sheet. What is hidden just as important as what is revealed. Like an enigma.

The Past, Present, And Future

December 17, 2020

I created this painting on the reverse side of a painting I completed in 2008. That painting never really saw the light of day, as it sat in storage soon after its genesis, only to have its stretcher bars removed years later and regress into a rolled-up canvas that was lighter and took up less space. Now transformed once again into a new work of art, with the remains of the past still present but unlikely ever to be seen again. I remember painting that piece and cannot believe it has already been over 12 years ago. Time flies, as the present quickly becomes history.

This painting, titled The Past, Present, And Future, was created in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and completed in December, 2020. The number of Covid infections are increasing at record-breaking rates across the country, each day bringing more infections and hospitalizations than the previous day. As a resident of Los Angeles County, one of the most infected regions of the world, I have no control. And I have no choice but to just let go, allow the powers to play out. The present is bleak and the future uncertain. But there is hope. Effective vaccines have supposedly been invented, and the first wave of distributions have begun. While it remains unclear when the general public may have access to the vaccines, vaccine effectiveness is still questionable.

These are some of things I was thinking about when I created this artwork.

2012 Past Present Future zdetail horse.jpeg

2012 Past Present Future zdetail woman rdcd1.jpeg

Art In The Time of Corona

April 28, 2020

This period of time will always be remembered for Covid-19, the coronavirus pandemic that has stopped society as we know it, and the social distancing, quarantines, and stay-at-home orders, in humanity’s efforts to overcome. It is a strange time to be alive. Every artist I know has the capacity to thrive in isolation, but ultimately, people need people.

During my isolation, I recently completed this sculpture of an octopus. Titled The Healer, it is a symbol of adaptability and represents positivity in conquering difficult obstacles. An octopus is an extremely intelligent creature that can adapt to new environments, hide, disappear, squeeze through seemingly impossible passages, hold strong, attack, and regenerate. In our quest to defeat Covid-19, the unique characteristics of an octopus are especially important for us to emulate.

The sculpture is made of thousands of little pebbles. The octopus of course has eight arms that connect to a central mantle, and in this artwork these can be interpreted to be the various human populations of the biggest landmasses that connect to Earth’s mantle.

Style And New Media

February 28, 2020

After working for several weeks on Odōr, a stop motion animation, I’ve returned to a series of oil pastels, after not working with them for over a year. My art spans various media, and the constant change like ocean waves allows me to return with a fresh perspective, helping to avoid formulaic processes that kill originality.

A critic (art professor) once told me long ago that perhaps not sticking with one medium impedes me from “finding my style.” Ugh. I don’t create art so that viewers can recognize a Lucas-Novak-formula. That’s not what drives me. I like what oil pastel artist Edgar Degas once said: “I’m glad to say I haven’t found my style yet. I’d be bored to death.”

In my oil pastel artworks, my subjects are often created from memory, influenced by the irrational and intangible thoughts and feelings, such as vulnerability produced after a dream. The medium is perfect for allowing me to work without hesitation, confidently expressing the moment by eliminating irrelevant details.

Above is a picture of Exposure Assessment #2, which takes a scientific term often associated with toxicological evaluations and applies it to an interpretation of contemporary humanity, where we encounter climate change, chemical exposures, resource destruction, and other environmental concerns, and as we push on we cannot hide, naked and vulnerable, our psychologies and social interactions strange, our experiences inexplicable.

* UPDATE (May 30, 2020): The Exposure Assessment artworks began in 2018 before there was a Covid-19 pandemic. The artwork shown here was also started and completed before Covid-19 reared its ugly head and took over the world. But the pandemic is another reminder of the art’s relevance, in addition to the inspirations described above.