Glexis Novoa was born in Holguín, Cuba, in 1964 within a mulatto-mestizo household with ancestries in Santiago de Cuba. His parents moved to Havana before he completed his first year of age where he was exposed to the arts from an early footstep through his extensive maternal family artistic heritage, dating back to the French polymath Boris Vian. His father, although with a brief career, was an innovator of abstract art in Cuba. His mother with whom he grew up as his core role model, is one of Cuba’s most recognized writers.
A year before obtaining his bachelor’s degree, Novoa won a national honor contending recognized professional artists. Earning his degree as a printmaker & draftsman at the National School of Art in Havana in 1984. In 1987 he had his first personal exhibition at the legendary Galería Habana and also creates the first engraving with movement and sound in the history of Cuban art.
By the second half of the 1980s, Novoa had developed an articulate professional career, becoming one of the most radical influences in the local vibrant art scene, developing a conceptual pictorial work, installations and performances. He was a founder of the Provisional group, pioneering political activism and collective strategies. After experiencing a period of institutional tensions during the first half of the 1990s, Novoa began to prolong periods in Mexico. In 1995 he moved with his family to Miami, where he currently lives and works. He has been sharing his time working in Havana as well as Miami since 2013 plus producing site-specific wall drawings and ephemeral projects around the world.
Novoa has had solo shows at Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables; Cheekwood Museum, Nashville; Worcester Art Museum, Worcester; The Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, Indiana; National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, among others. His works by him have been included in group shows at Today Art Museum, Beijing; Queen’s Museum, New York; Art Museum of the Americas, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Ludwig Forum für International Kunst, Aachen; Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Trento; Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid; Perez Art Museum Miami; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City; Center for Contemporary Culture, Barcelona; Center d’art contemporain Passerelle, Brest; Musée des Beaux-arts de Rennes among many others. Novoa has been honored with awards including Creator Award Winner, Oolite Arts, Miami; The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, New York; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation Grant, Miami; Ribbons Fellowship Award, New York among others. Hi has held residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Residence Unlimited, New York; McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, among others. Novoa’s works have been acquired by prestigious collections, including: Adrastus collection Arévalo, Spain; Lehigh University Art Galleries Collection, Bethlehem; Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York; Nassau County Museum of Art, Long Island; Perez Art Museum, Miami; Wilfredo Lam Center, Havana; Ribbons Fellowship, New York; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami; Ludwig Forum Fur Internationale Kunst, Aachen; National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana among others.
