Novy has been leaving his mark across the city for years, and his koi stencils have become one of those rare pieces of street art that virtually nobody complains about. In a city where we spend jaw-dropping sums on public art commissions that range from forgettable to actively ugly, Novy's work is a refreshing reminder that beauty doesn't require a six-figure grant and a committee of bureaucrats.

Let that sink in for a moment. San Francisco has an entire Arts Commission with a multimillion-dollar budget, and yet some of the most beloved art in the city comes from a guy with stencils and spray paint, doing it on his own dime and his own time. There's a lesson here about the difference between top-down cultural planning and organic, grassroots creativity — and it's one City Hall will never learn.

Novy's koi fish carry meaning, too. His work has long been tied to LGBTQ+ visibility, using public spaces to spark conversation without lecturing anyone. It's art that invites you in rather than wagging a finger at you. That's harder to pull off than it looks.

Potrero Hill is one of those neighborhoods that still feels like it belongs to the people who live there — a little quieter, a little more residential, not yet swallowed whole by the same forces homogenizing the rest of the city. Novy's stencils fit right in. They add character without asking for anything in return.

Next time you're in the neighborhood, take a detour past 19th and Connecticut. It's a small thing, but in a city that often feels like it's trying too hard, small things done well matter more than ever.