Robin Bloom Suggests ‘Vivianus’

Robin Bloom Suggests ‘Vivianus’ WHYY’s NewsWorks.org lists Leslie Friedman’s show atop a bunch of Pop Art related events in and around Philadelphia Along with “International Pop” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and “More than Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Warhol’s Prints and Photographs” at Zimmerli, Bloom suggests Vivianus at Delaware contemporary: Influenced by Pop art, the Philadelphia artist explores human identity, belonging, and evolution. Utilizing printmaking and mixed media to present politically and socially subversive content for a colorful presentation on a utopian island where outcasts communicate through rock music and immerse themselves in indulgent individualism… To read more of…

Delaware’s NPR Affiliate Interviews Leslie Friedman about Vivianus

Delaware’s NPR Affiliate Interviews Leslie Friedman about Vivianus From The Green, Cathy Carter interviews the artist for the Arts Playlist In the piece, Friedman explains the narrative-based changes viewers can expect as they come to see this new body of work: “My work is always very political but this piece while still political aims to tell the story of these people who run away from their lives to live on an island together.” The piece aired Friday, January 22nd at 3pm EST, but you can hear it for yourself online here.    

NewsWorks Covers Artist-Run

NewsWorks Covers Artist-Run Peter Crimmins Interviews Leslie Friedman and Uses Her Image for the Headline Leslie Friedman, Christina P. Day, and Tamsen Wojtanowski of NAPOLEON participated in Artist-Run, an alternative fair part of Art Week Miami 2015. Covering the story for Philadelphia’s WHYY Newsworks, Peter Crimmins interviewed Leslie Friedman who was on the ground in Miami. “I do a lot of site-specific work, and I hate deinstalling them,” said Friedman. “The idea I could do something and not have to take it down was just too delicious to ignore.” To read the entire article, click newsworks.org. Audio coming soon!

City Suburban News Runs Image of “Dime”

The City Suburban News ran a little article about the Professional Artist Member Exhibition at the Main Line Art Center. With a nice big colored featured image on the front page, Dime stood out. To read the article, look at the JPEG below or click the link to the PDF of the entire issue. The article starts at the bottom of the front page and continues on page six.

KnightArts Reviews the Wind Challenge

Chip Schwartz of KnightArts reviews the third in the series of this year’s Fleisher Wind Challenges. In the review, he writes this about Leslie Friedman’s installation ‘Yenta’: Leslie Friedman fills a huge portion of the gallery space with large, structural installations, which are interestingly as much a product of printmaking as they are modular assembly. Her sensibilities are strongly informed by the strategies of Pop Art, full of bright colors, repetition, text and recognizable images of celebrities (in this case a scientific one: Albert Einstein). Although Friedman in many ways seeks to oversaturate, the pieces are quite entertaining, encouraging viewers…

The Path and the Structure on DonArtNews

Don Brewer transcribes the artists talks from the opening of ‘The Path and the Strucure’ at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists. At the opening, Leslie Friedman said of her work and the way she began thinking of some of her recent installations, Jewish identity, and stereotypes in general: I started to think, ‘What would cool Jewish art look like?’ ‘What would it look like if Jewish art were being sold?’ And that’s been an under-current of a lot of my work. I showed my work at Napoleon in a show called ‘Gay, Jewish or Both?’ But, something that I…

Leslie Friedman Makes Waves Says Talbot Spy

artNOW: Philadelphia exhibition rocks the Eastern Shore of Maryland Talbot Spy thinks “Leslie Friedman’s neo-Pop Art installation is purposefully crass and annoying.” In a review which compares the survey of contemporary Philadelphia art with the feature film “The Monuments Men,” critic Mary McCoy write this of Leslie Friedman’s pieces: As if Andy Warhol was still alive and well, its row of silkscreened green nudes line up across from a pile of oversized multi-colored Coke cans and sugar substitute wrappers where an endlessly repeating video loop shows a masturbating woman. Like the other artists in this show, Friedman is less concerned…

artNOW Philadelphia in Kent County News

Kent County News reporter covers the opening of artNOW: Philadelphia In the review, writer Lena Ellwanger reports that the pieces by Leslie Friedman have been controversial: The work of Leslie Friedman greets visitors as they enter the gallery. With its adult content, it may take some onlookers aback. During the show’s opening reception Feb. 7, Bellas was told that some guests left when they saw Friedman’s work – without giving the rest of the exhibition a glance or a chance. To read the whole review, click here.

‘Gay, Jewish, or Both’ in Philadelphia Weekly

Philadelphia Weekly promoted the closing reception of ‘Gay, Jewish, or Both’ Napoleon founding member Friedman and the world renowned Margulis teamed up for the engaging month-long exhibit to examine modern identities materialized in the gay and Jewish communities.  They believe modern homosexuality and Jewishness mirror each other–a notion derived from each group’s respective history of marginalization by the majority.  Through carefully chosen artifacts within the installation, the artists hope visitors are drawn to confronting stereotypes about each identity. To download a .pdf of the article, click philadelphia_weekly_closing_gjb

TheArtBlog.org Covers ‘Gay, Jewish, or Both’

In the article, writer Leah Koontz talks about her personal interest in the show.  “As a Jew who was raised by a lesbian, I often find myself troubled by the Torah’s position on on gayness (which is not necessarily supportive).” The thing that is amusing about this dining room environment is its subtlety/ambiguity. With a name like Gay, Jewish or Both, Friedman and Margulis had room for quiet references. Immediately upon entering the installation, I noticed the Jewish celebrity prints. Although Natalie Portman is no Mayim Bialik or Barbara Streisand, she did help clue me in, as a person with acute…