New Blood Pop Interview

Brad Novak is one of New Zealand's most internationally recognised artists, whose pop art pieces have hung in galleries next to works by art legends such as Banksy, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol. He has carved out perhaps one of the unconventional yet massively successful careers, splitting his time between being a public health specialist and a world-class artist. Over the summer I met with him to discuss both his careers and advice for young creatives. Craccum and I would like to thank him for his generosity and for opening up about his art journey. Follow his art on Instagram @newbloodpop. 

What colour are you feeling today? 

It's grey outside today, but I'm feeling a cool blue. It's my favourite colour. 

What was the last album you listened to? 

We don't listen to music like that much these days, do we? [Laughs] I think the last one would have been The Car by the Arctic Monkeys. It's a breakaway from their previous style, but I really like it. 

Favourite restaurant? 

I love Wagamamas. Sadly, the Auckland one closed down. I got introduced to it when I lived in the UK. It's Asian fusion. 

How does a doctor end up as an artist? 

Well, I went to Auckland Grammar in the late 80s and early 90s and was deemed to be "academic". They stream classes there, and if you're in the top stream, they limit your options, so I literally couldn't take art, design or graphics. I was on the achievement train doing physics, sports and stuff, and all my friends were gonna be doctors and lawyers. My brother was a lawyer, so I was like, "I guess I'm the family doctor". So I went to med school; that's all there was to it. 

Being a junior doctor is not a good experience, and my girlfriend at the time (now wife) felt like going on an OE to London, so we went. She's a primary school teacher, so she would often go to art galleries to learn about different genres to teach kids about. One day, she took me to the Tate Modern gallery. Before then, I thought art meant realism, so only photorealistic landscapes and portraits were good; everything else was poo-poo. 

After 2 hours of me grumping around the Tate Modern, grumbling at the modern art, going, "I could do that" my wife got annoyed and said, "Then why don't you?" and dared me to become an artist! [Laughed] That moment was like a lightning strike, awakening my inner artist. I feel bad about it now because the works I was shitting on then were by my biggest art heroes now!  

So, how did you learn how to make art?  

First, I started doing photography as we were doing a lot of travelling, but then I started teaching myself to paint in the early 2000s in my garage. It was a real exploratory period. Around 2008, when I started looking into getting some prints of my works, I found this place [Artrite Screen Printing]. It's a real hidden gem of the New Zealand art world. They do prints for really famous NZ artists like Dick Frizzell, Sam Leitch, Karl Maughn, and so many more. That's when my world expanded to my current practice. I now rent a small area of their warehouse as my studio. 

Did your medical skills ever come in handy doing art? 

No. Medicine didn't help my artistic side at all, really. There just isn't any room for creativity in that field. It's a brilliant career for those who want to do it. But I never felt it resonated with me fully. However, I always wake up excited to do art. 

However, medicine is still part of who I am, and my art reflects that. For example, I use some medical iconography, like the Caduceus, in my work and the "blood" in my moniker "New Blood Pop" references my background. I was finding my new identity at the time. Am I Dr Novak? Or Brad, who is an artist, too? What does it mean to live a creative life? I'm still asking myself those questions to this day. 

What advice do you have for young people who have a creative hobby and would like to do it as part of their career eventually, like you did? 

This advice is for young people in general, not just those with a passion for creating. If you're not sure what to do, think about your personality and what excites you and then pursue that. 

For example, at med school, there was one creative assignment during that whole 15-year period. It was on Pathology [diseases], and I decided to go all in and make this whole board game. The lecturer loved it, but because the assignment was supposed to be written, I didn't get great marks. [Laughs]. When I reflect back on it, it was a huge warning sign that my creative side was there waiting to be explored. 

I'm also a big advocate for not going all in with your career. Take your time. You can get sucked into the sunk cost bias, where because you've spent so much time and money on studying, it's hard to let go of that career even when it makes you unhappy. 

I never went to art school, but I've heard it's not easy for fine arts graduates because they want to make a living in their art, but that doesn't always work out immediately. Don't feel bad for having a day job. Seek financial stability so you can free yourself creatively and keep practicing art as a hobby. 

Art is like sports. Only a lucky few athletes make big bucks and can have a career out of it. But that doesn't mean you can't play with your local club and enjoy the sport. 

Your portraiture shows clear inspiration from pop artists like Andy Warhol. Who are some other artists who have influenced your style? 

Aside from Andy Warhol, other pop artists from the UK and US in the '60s inspired me. I like the works by Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant), who did a lot of stencil sprays and collages. Banksy, of course, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. I look up to some senior artists in New Zealand, like Michael Smither and Max Gimblett. Not so much for their visual style but more so for how they approached their career. I could go on! 

Do you have any art hanging in your house? If so, what kind? 

Definitely. Not much of my own stuff, but I have a lot of art gifted by friends who are artists like Ben Frost, RYCK and Copyright. All Urban Pop art. I make that kind of art because it's my favourite genre. 

In such a globalised world, much of our pop and urban culture here in Aotearoa is imported. How does your Kiwi identity interact with your art? 

Well, I consider myself an artist based in New Zealand rather than a strictly "New Zealand" artist. This is because I'm heavily influenced by international works and international pop culture. The world is smaller than we think. 

Your ongoing and popular 'DIGITAL DILEMMA' series explores the encroachment of technology on our lives. What are your thoughts on the recent rise of AI art? 

Well, I grew up in the generation before smartphones and the internet, so my message with my DIGITAL DILEMMA series is to challenge and remind viewers about how they see the world. You'll notice one eye on my portraits has a digital lens over it, and the other eye doesn't. The idea is to remind the person about the real world outside. We can't forget that.

AI is huge, and I haven't looked into it too much, but it's going to be another industrial revolution. Jobs will be made obsolete, and new ones will come along. It's gonna change the world. 

In the art world, there are issues of AI training on images without credit or consent. I think being transparent about your inspirations is important as an artist, so I don't like that aspect of AI art. I think it needs to be regulated in general. I don't want the Terminator to happen in real life! [Laughs] 

How do iconic celebrities play into your works? What is the selection process like, and how do you choose the photos on which to base your portraits? 

Pop Art is about making high-brow art off low-brow everyday things. Andy Warhol used images of famous people from newspapers, as he considered those images to be public objects. So, celebrities are a metaphor, a generic thing that's instantly recognisable.  

I choose people based on two criteria: those who are thought-provoking or people I personally respect. For example, I've used the Queen a lot because she lived such a long life, and technology changed so rapidly over that period. Or for Audrey Hepburn, I respect her. She was a huge humanitarian and spoke multiple languages. For the photos, I just pick ones I feel are striking or beautiful. I never do commissions.  

Do you ever encounter copyright issues using IPs like Star Wars and Marvel in your pieces? 

Before I was a doctor or an artist, I was a Dungeons & Dragons playing geek. [Laughs] I liked these things before they were cool and mainstream. 

I haven't had any issues. I think you're okay if your work is transformative, you're open about the source material, and you're not breaching any merchandising or licensing agreements. 

Have you met any of the subjects of your art? Do you know if any have seen it? 

One of my early works from my HYBRID series in 2009 was based on the Reservoir Dogs poster, with the guys in the suits but with NZ birds for heads. Around that time, Quintin Tarantino came to NZ for a premiere and picked up some of my prints, and he actually signed one for me, "Love the birds. Good on ya, Brad". That endorsement really inspired me to keep going. 

You've recently done a series of painted flowers against your signature backdrop. Does this signal a new direction? 

I've used the iconography of flowers for years. After my father passed away two years ago, I've featured them more heavily to honour him since he was a big gardener. I'm of the opinion that your life should feed into your art, so that's what's driving that. 

Last, is there anything you want to plug or shout out to our readers? How can we support your work? 

Don't give up! You can live a conventional life and do art. Take time to work on yourself; art is a lifelong journey.

You can check out my art on my Instagram or my website at www.newbloodpop.com. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat @newbloodpop.