The Jeffrey Leder Gallery is pleased to present two solo shows by Brandon Friend and Ellen Schneiderman, on view at 2137 45th Rd, Long Island City, from March 18th through April 8th, 2012. The top floor will present a selection of Brandon Friend’s latest series of artwork called Defenders. He fuses today’s immediacy of generating visual data with a technique he defines as “imprinting”.

On the parlor floor Ellen Schneiderman’s recent series titled Caverns will be exhibited together with a selection of colored work. Her paintings are thoroughly abstract articulations of themes, or “reflective spaces” that trigger meditation. Each embodies a particular mood, to which the viewer can connect.

Scratches of carton, pixeled images from newspaper or digital snapshots – Brandon Friend agglomerates small extracts of pop culture imagery and found material to portraits of armored individuals. His warriors are iconic characters one immediately recognizes as protectors of the ‘homeland security’. But, as much as the militarized cast of the police claims to defend municipalities with intense weaponry, the armored-to-the-teeth policemen more and more transform to offenders. Lately, criticism about the police’s performance rose not only in the United States of America, hinting at their strong propensity to violence. Brandon provocatively points to a mass media culture where violence is ubiquitous and individuality obscured. A dynamic and forceful commentary about a growing militarization, freedom and security in societies, executed in a unique formal language. His paintings are layers of collaged material on canvas, and board, creating a grainy, textured surface. Seen from a distance, the scenes of combat transform to papermaché murals that convey his meritorious command of color and composition. Brandon’s work has been featured in solo shows nationwide since 2001. He received his MFA from CUNY Queens College in 2008 and has exhibited with the Jeffrey Leder Gallery in 2010 as a selected artist for the Industry Show. His artwork will be shown at the 2012 Fountain Art Fair NYC.

Ellen Schneiderman’s recent abstract paintings explore cavernous spaces in a range of India and walnut inks and graphite. Removing the color from the work has allowed her to focus on composition, texture, tone, and contrast to push and explore new compositions. Using watercolor, ink, acrylic and gouache at the same time, the speed of the material and her own tendencies to slowly reflect, organize, and record contribute to her art. The random dissemination of paint counters her deliberate gestures, which emerge from the ground as geometric currents, organic grids and structures. She reflects: “crevices reveal dichotomous spaces that are vacant and elaborate, illuminated and dark, and organic and ordered. These meticulous constructions are developed with a deep consideration for surface and materiality.” Ellen was born in 1982 in Los Angeles, CA, studied a the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pont Aven Summer Institute in France and received a degree in Visual Arts from Brown University. She was featured in solo shows at several galleries such as the List Art Center in Providence, RI and the Dutch Kills Gallery in Long Island City, NY. In 2011, Ellen’s paintings were shown in two curated group shows at the Jeffrey Leder Gallery: “Grid/Pattern” and “Made in LIC”.