[1] He spent his early years in Uruguay in Montevideo, where he founded Apex, a culture-focused magazine, with Carlos Maggi and other Uruguayan artists and intellectuals.

Artists like Joaquín Torres García, Juan Carlos Onetti, Juana de Ibarbourou, Julio María Sanguinetti, and Marta Canessa worked on the magazine and formed a close friendship with Jorge Oteiza.

In Buenos Aires, where Nóvoa Garcia lived from 1948 to 1957, he became close friends with Lucio Fontana, who greatly influenced his work.

Nóvoa Garcia was heavily influenced by other Galicians exiled by the Spanish Civil War such as Rafael Dieste and Luís Seoane.

In Paris, Nóvoa Garcia impressed Julio Cortázar, who wrote a story about his work, and Orlando Pelayo.