Jay Friedenberg: Digital Dreams
Recent Photos
July 17 – August 17, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 19, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Broadway Electric, manipulated digital photo, 20″x36″
440 Gallery Presents Jay Friedenberg: Digital Dreams
In his inaugural solo exhibit at 440 Gallery, Jay Friedenberg’s digital images vibrate with a neon intensity. His photographs of New York City scenes are digitally manipulated, the colors and details pushed into surreal landscapes. In one image an inky black cityscape glows with electric daubs of light, and in another the encroaching twilight casts the city into a blue fantasy. Some of his induced effects suggest other techniques such as pointillism, cartoon or graphic imagery. Jay Friedenberg: Digital Dreams will be exhibited from July 17th through August 17th, with the opening reception on Saturday, July 19th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Among events related to the show will be a lecture on the history of New York landmarks.
Friedenberg’s artistic style has many influences including the Impressionists who utilized optical blending techniques and use of intense color. He also favors the work of the modern Japanese woodblock print artists, who were experts at laying down adjacent colored areas to produce interacting effects. Some of his work has attempted to replicate the mosaic patterns seen in their prints. The Fauvists Vlaminck and Derain hold some appeal for him as well in terms of their use of primary colors. Friedenberg’s subject matter is both banal but stylized, with aerial perspective views of Manhattan and rush hour commuters whose shapes are stretched thinly into space.
Jay Friedenberg is atypical in the art community as he is both an artist and a vision scientist. For the past 15 years he has been investigating topics in human vision related to art perception. He has published numerous scientific articles and uses his understanding of human aesthetic perception to inform his artwork. His photographic images have won him honorable mention in The Artist’s Magazine All-Media Competition in 2012 and he also placed as a contest winner in the 2013 Digital Arts California International Photography Contest. In addition to the 440 Gallery he has exhibited his works at the Tivoli Art Gallery in Tivoli, New York and at the Urban Passage Gallery at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. He is a member of the Mystic Art Association, the Pastel Society of America and the Connecticut Pastel Society. His landscape images have been published in The Pinyon Review, Cyberwit.net and The Poughkeepsie Journal newspaper. He has authored four books on graphic design.
The 440 Gallery is in Park Slope, convenient to the F, M, and R subways. The gallery is open Thursday and Friday, 4:00 – 7:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM, or by appointment. Check the gallery’s website, www.440gallery.com, for more information.
440 6th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 499-3844