The Nova Via Series is a group of  thirty sculptures completed  during  a particularly rich period of creative  output.  The juxtaposition of  sharply  contrasting forms and dimensionality from the first of these works signaled a shift of direction or “new road” for  my work. At the suggestion of a  journalist friend, Luis Rangel, the  entire body of work has been called The Nova Via Series.

Although these non-representational works  are concerned primarily  with formal visual decisions, part of their “content” involves  my visual reaction to Southern California  when I relocated here from New York City in 1991.  Some of the combinations of forms I observed, for example, bright reflective  surfaces juxtaposed with indications of urban and biological decay, had an immediate visual attraction for me.  I have tried to incorporate in these works the up-to-the-minute newness and constant re-invention of Los Angeles, together with  aspects of its darker urban angst.

These observations, along with the interest here in design from the 1920’s and 30’s, Art Deco and the more  extreme aspects of Moderne in  particular, can be seen in all of the  work in varying degrees and  combinations.

James Zver

Los Angeles
October 2003