Novoa’s artistic career began in the early 1960s, where he made his debut painting the streets of Paris. After two successful shows in 1961 and 1962 sponsored by the Chilean Ambassador and the late Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, and showing in the Faubourg St. Honoré and Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Novoa made a move from Paris to New York.

After his first few years in New York, Novoa secured a successful partnership with Guy Burgos and Lady Sarah Churchill, which later led to the opening of the Burgos Gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1965. By then, his style had evolved into textured oils that the New York Times’ critic, Stuart Preston, said, “Novoa seeks to discover in his often fanciful landscapes, and still-lives is their identity; that special something that makes them unique.”
By the late 1960s, Novoa’s subjects had morphed into the soft jungle denizens that were to become his trademark. Novoa constructed a dream-like new jungle where the lions lay with zebras and butterflies parade around wildcats. The soft, radiant colors of Novoa’s luxuriant foliage seem to wield a mystical power, the power of bringing together: both predator and prey, both the strong and the meek.

Novoa became represented exclusively by Wally Findlay Galleries in the early 1970s. His one-man shows in New York, Paris, Palm Beach, and Beverly Hills established him as a champion of the environment and wildlife conservation. His animals were primitive and painted in lush and colorful backgrounds. In 1977, he published his book, Jungle Fables, a collection of rhymes on “vice and virtue” that gave a new dimension to his animals, making them more anthropomorphic and philosophical.

In 1981, His show, “The Grand Tour,” sent his animals prowling the world’s major cities, from the Spanish Steps in Rome to the Left Bank in Paris, through the Great Pyramids, and back to Park Avenue in New York. It was perhaps the most surrealistic of Novoa’s shows. In the mid-eighties, Miami’s Preservation League commissioned him to create the cover of the Art-Deco weekend program; he created a group of Deco Architecture paintings, and his painting ‘Dreamline- Streamline’ became the theme of the event. In 1988, Prince Charles of England set a new record for Novoa’s sales by auctioning one of his paintings at a benefit sale in Palm Beach. In 1991, Novoa was received at the White House by Mrs. George Bush. Miami’s Art Deco District had chosen Novoa’s painting, “The Carlyle Hotel”, to be presented to the First Lady, which was hung in the President’s Library.

In 1997, Novoa released another book titled Paradise Found, a retrospective based on his work over the past three decades. Findlay Galleries acknowledged this accomplishment with a series of exhibitions and book signings in New York and Palm Beach. In 2010, Findlay Galleries celebrated a 35 year retrospective of Novoa’s work at the New York gallery. Findlay Galleries hosted a private preview reception in support of Panthera – an organization whose mission is to save the world’s wild cat species and their habitats.

Today, Gustavo Novoa continues to deliver his brightly colored canvases filled with whimsy and wit. Findlay Galleries is proud to be celebrating 50 years of exclusive representation with Gustavo Novoa, An artist who continues to impress and re-imagine, thus surprising his collectors and always intriguing his extensive audience.