Jul 6, 2023

Why we’re fascinated: Because Williamsburg-based Nava, who has an MFA from Yale, is classically trained — yet chooses to thwart traditional ideas of beauty altogether. Represented by sleek-yet-edgy Chelsea gallery Pace, Nava’s work pushes back at pretension and embraces fairy tales while evading narrative. Depicting sometimes-fuzzy, tangled battles between dragons, blushing unicorns and righteous seraphim in a style evocative, at times, of an elementary school class, Nava’s work is no doubt divisive. Whatever your reaction, what matters most is that
you have one at all. Something about these whimsical artworks summons unexpected emotions. Nava said in a recent interview that one friend was staring at one of his scenes of an alligator getting slain. The work, said the friend, calmed him down.

— Vittoria Benzine