Carmen Novaco was born in Portici in 1948, daughter of a naval officer and a teacher.
From a young age she showed a strong artistic propensity but preferred to direct her studies and her subsequent professional career to teaching, a formative experience whose trace is found in a playful aspect strongly present in her works. For educational purposes, for her, particular importance is attached to the use of the image, through an object the initial information is more easily understood. This approach marks her artistic work. Driven by an urgent creative need, she founded her company “Nova design”, crafting microporous rubber bags, a project that gratifies the artist thanks to a growth that sees her involved on a national and international scene. During her subsequent journeys to Europe, she deepened Russian Constructivism and became more aware of her inclination towards geometric art.
At the same time, the need to make her artistic works known does not subside. She takes care of the look of Geven, the family’s aeronautical company. Aluminium and steel panels subjected to laser cutting for the company’s production reasons, reinvented and remodelled, give rise to works of great aesthetic impact. Each aluminium or steel cut-out invites the artist to experience a creative moment of profound change she cannot renounce/do without. The use of various materials such as metal, plexiglass, wood and forex allows her to range and take an interest in the two-dimensional and three-dimensional discourse. Her works are even more open to the user, inviting him to interact, so she decides to exhibit her works. In a period when we are talking about the “land of fires”, waste and environmental issues, right in Nola, in the halls of Geven “waste become art” and her first exhibition takes shape.
In 2013, the guidelines of the Madì movement allow her to recognize herself in an art that respects her freedom of interpretation. In 2014 she is invited to exhibit, as a constructivist artist guest, at the collective exhibition “Aspetti del Madì internazionale a Napoli” at the Museo Civico del Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino), Sala Carlo V.
Her need for knowledge, the unsatisfied curiosity and the intense research put the artist in contact with “Astractura” an artistic current absolutely innovative and of which she shares the guidelines but also the concept of group, collaboration, openness that she has not found in other artistic currents.
In 2016 at the PAN – Palazzo delle Arti in Naples, takes place the solo exhibition “Kaleidoscopic Geometries” curated by Professor Rosario Pinto.
In 2018, invited by the art gallery owner Rossella Savarese, she exhibited at the SyArt Festival, a contemporary art exhibition that took place at Villa Fiorentino, Sorrento Foundation headquarter. At the same time, she gives to the City of Sorrento her sculpture “Essenza”, a permanent work in S. Antonino square, which plays a key role in her artistic production, opening up new possible solutions where the need for breakage and transformation are overwhelming. In the same year she exhibited at the Museum Maca – Museum of Contemporary Art in Acre, title, a large-scale art work reported by the jury as a work of great artistic interest. In 2019, she handed over the sculpture “La via della seta” (The Silk Road) to the Municipality of Mendicino (CS), another permanent work in a public space.
Her works are on display at Museo Geometric and Madì in Dallas, Casa Museo Sartori in Mantova, Pinacoteca Comunale Palazzo Ducale Sanchez de Luna in Sant’Arpino (CE) and Polo espositivo “Juana Romani” in Velletri (RM).
Authoritative critics have expressed their support for her work, like Magdalena Arria, Laura Bica, Enzo Battarra, Giorgio di Genova, Rosario Pinto, Giorgio Palumbo, Maurizio Vitiello.