Joe Novak - Assemblages

Artist’s Statement

“Echoes” is a series of 50 wall mounted box assemblages, created in 2002 and 2003, incorporating painting and mineral specimens. These are miniature earthworks which pay homage to the planet we inhabit and its visual treasures.

The series is a continuation of a career- long preoccupation with color and light expressed through a non-objective format, but inspired as always by the natural world.

Allusions to mineral forms have emerged in my paintings for years. Long fascinated with minerals - their colors, configurations, textures and luminosity – I see them as nature’s sculptures, and have collected exceptional specimens originating from every continent.

In the “Echoes” series, through the use of iridescent paints and a process of painting that utilizes the natural laws of liquid flow and dispersion not dissimilar from the manner in which minerals were originally formed in nature, a synergy has been created between painting and mineral wherein each echoes the other.

Twenty pieces of the series have been selected for a grouping to be owned and exhibited as a unified work of art, called the Echoes Twenty Collection.

"Echoes 50"
Mixed Media with Fluorite with Calcite on Quartz (China)
18" x 16" x 2 1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 49"
Mixed Media with Calcite (Pennsylvania)
17" x 16" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 48"
Mixed Media with Tourmaline in Albite (Pakistan)
18" x 16" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 46"
Mixed Media with Citrine Quartz (Arkansas)
16 1/2" x 20" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 45"
Mixed Media with Selenite on Halite (Peru)
16" x 20" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 44"
Mixed Media with Chrysocolla & Malachite (Zaire)
16 1/2" x 20" x 2 1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 43"
Mixed Media with Chrysocolla in Selenite (Peru)
15" x 19" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 42"
Mixed Media with Azurite (Utah)
14 3/4" x 18 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 41"
Mixed Media with Rhodochrosite (Peru)
15" x 19" x 2 1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 40"
Mixed Media with Apophyllite & Pink Stilbite (India)
17" x 15 1/2" x 2/1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 39"
Mixed Media with Quartz (Japan Law Twins) (Peru)
15 1/2" x 18 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 38"
Mixed Media with Selenite (Peru)
16 1/2" x 20" x 2 1/2", 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 37"
Mixed Media with Fluorite (Illinois)
17 1/2" x 15 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes" 36"
Mixed Media with Amethyst (Mexico)
15 1/2" x 19 1/2" x 2 1/2', 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 35"
Mixed Media with Calcite (Tennessee)
15" x 18 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 34"
Mixed Media with Orpiment & Realgar (Nevada)
19” x 17” x 2 1/2”, 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 33"
Mixed Media with Amethyst (Mexico)
13” x 15 1/2” x 2 1/2”, 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 32"
Mixed Media with Wulfenite (Mexico)
15 1/4” x 14 1/4” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 31"
Mixed Media with Malachite (Congo)
16” x 20” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 30"
Mixed Media with Malachite on Limonite (Utah)
17” x 20” x 2 1/2”, 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 29"
Mixed Media with Green Apophyllite (India)
15” x 20” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 28"
Mixed Media with Garnet & Diopside (California)
14 1/2” x 18 1/2” x 2 1/2”, 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 27"
Mixed Media with Vanadinite (Nevada)
15 1/2 ” x 19 1/4” x 2 1/2”, 2003

"Echoes 26"
Mixed Media with Adamite on Limonite (Mexico)
16” x 20” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 25"
Mixed Media with Green Apophyllite & Stilbite (India)
15” x 19” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 24"
Mixed Media with Wulfenite on Mimetite (Mexico)
13 1/2 ” x 19 1/2” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 23"
Mixed Media with Selenite on Halite (Peru)
16” x 20” x 2 1/2”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 22"
Mixed Media with Barite (Nevada)
16” x 19” x 2 1/2 ”, 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 21"
Mixed Media with Green Apophyllite & Stilbite (India)
15 1/4 ” x 19” x 2 1/2”, 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 20"
Mixed Media with Azurite (Namibia)
20"x 19"x 2 1/2" , 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 19"
Mixed Media with Adamite on Limonite (Mexico)
17 1/2"x 22"x 2 1/2" , 2003
Private Collection

"Echoes 18"
Mixed Media with Pyromorphite (China)
13"x 16"x 2 1/2" , 2003

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 17"
Mixed Media with Smokey Quartz (Australia)
13 1/2" x 18" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 16"
Mixed Media with Malachite on Azurite (Central Kazakhstan)
14 1/2" x 18 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2002

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 15"
Mixed Media with Green Apophyllite (India)
16" x 20" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 14"
Mixed Media with Apophyllite & Heulenite (India)
18" x 16" x 2 1/2", 2002

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 13"
Mixed Media with Fluorite on Quartz (China)
17 1/2" x 13 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 12"
Mixed Media with Vanadinite on Barite (Morocco)
13" x 17" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 11"
Mixed Media with Quartz & Chalcopyrite (Peru)
14" x 18" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 10"
Mixed Media with Brochantite (Arizona)
14" x 16 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2002

Echoes Twenty Collection

"Echoes 9"
Mixed Media with Rhodochrosite (Peru)
16" x 20" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 8"
Mixed Media with Citrine Quartz (China)
14" x 17" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 7"
Mixed Media with Uvarovite (Russia)
13" x 17" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 6"
Mixed Media with Apophyllite & Stilbite (India)
16" x 20" x 2 1/2 ", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 5"
Mixed Media with Selenite (Peru)
13 1/2" x 18" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 4"
Mixed Media with Selenite & Halite (Peru)
13" x 13" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 3"
Mixed Media with Cuprosklodowskite (Congo)
12" x 14" x 2 1/2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 2"
Mixed Media with Wulfenite (Mexico)
7" x 7" x 2", 2002
Private Collection

"Echoes 1"
Mixed Media with Torbernite (Zaire)
11" x 11" x 2", 2002
Private Collection