Captured & Constructed is a view into the 40+ year career of critically-acclaimed New York photographer, Victor Friedman. This exhibit was curated from hundreds of photographs to illustrate the diverse range of this artist who combined an interest in various forms of artistic expression: painting, drawing, and sculpture into his primary medium, photography. Friedman initially picked up the camera to photograph the paintings by his wife, Leah. From that moment he began capturing the images that defined the world around him; portraits of the the gritty, unpretentious, tenacious characters of New York, the landscapes and seascapes of his refuge Shelter Island, and his explorations along the Atlantic coast.

As a self-taught photographer, Friedman more recently evolved his work in a direction inspired by the Cubist paintings of Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Pablo Picasso. His study of still lifes and the human form are combined in the darkroom with sculptures made from broken metal fragments to create a single image. After printing, Friedman further perfects the piece through toning, shading, sketching and painting directly onto the image. This added artistic process makes each print in the limited edition a unique piece of art.

In 2009 Penguin Press published, Flag, a book of over 80 of Friedmanʼs images that pays testament to Americaʼs longstanding, rich, and diverse relationship with the iconic symbol as it appears woven into our lives; showing up behind the scarred face of a Vietnam soldier; on a rural farm stand providing food for its community; alongside a subway trumpet player blowing his heart out for nickels and dimes; or flying high above a bustling city street.

Victor and his wife, Leah, live in New York City and Shelter Island.

Friedmanʼs work appears in the permanent collections of:

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston
The Brooklyn Museum
The Museum of the City of New York
New York Public Library

He has exhibited in several NY galleries including:

The Old Print Shop
The Witkin Gallery
The Leica Gallery
June Bateman Gallery

International exhibits:

University of Mexico
Haifa University in Israel
German Embassy in Berlin

Publishing credits include:

The New York Times (Award for Best Op-Ed Page, 1972)
Popular Photography
Black & White Photography Magazine