“Faces of Key West” artist, Letty Nowak, likes to think big. Really big.
World-renowned for her unusually large portraits (5’ x 6’), Nowak’s images are both bold and striking. She views her paintings as abstract pieces: blocks of color that she artfully pulls together to create a recognizable facial image.
Apparently, she’s onto something because her work is in private collections throughout the US, South America, and Europe.
And it’s no wonder.
Nowak’s powerful portraits speak as loud as the people she paints, and it’s impossible not to be pulled in by the soulful subjects staring back at you from her canvases.
As the owner of Key West’s contemporary Jag Gallery and a high-profile fixture in Key West’s vibrant art scene, Letty Nowak made her mark when she launched a compelling body of work that included painting one hundred local faces.
The oil on canvas portraits not only captured the likenesses of a wide variety of local people but also began to define a unique approach, style, and composition that would become Nowak’s unmistakable trademark.
Aptly named “The Faces of Key West,” her collection evolved into the subject of a highly acclaimed book by the same name. The book was the precursor to Nowak’s next project, “The Faces of Surfing,” which featured another hundred portraits of some of the most influential, innovative, and unique people in the global surfing community.
When she’s not painting surfers or working on commissioned pieces, you can find Letty Nowak at Jag Gallery, where she represents many other Key West notables, including painters B. Lucy Stevens, Susan Sugar, AD Tinkham, Lincoln Perry, and Rick Worth, as well as sculptor John Martini.
See them all at Jag Gallery, at 1075 Duval St in Key West. Info: 305-407-6202; jaggallery.art.
