Jeff Schneider (artist)

Early on, Schneider showed a keen interest in photography often shooting and processing up to one hundred feet of black & white film a week. Growing increasingly tired of the representational aspects of photography, through darkroom manipulations, Schneider began to essentially abstract the "objectivity" of the camera lens. One of his professors at the University of South Florida suggested he enroll in a figure drawing and art theory class. Not long after these initial steps into fine art, Schneider attended the 1980 Picasso Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. This exhibition confirmed his desire to become an artist.[1]

After he received his BFA in 1983 from Miami University, he worked as an Art Director in commercial design, painting at night in garages and basements until he acquired a studio in downtown Cincinnati. Soon after, he received a scholarship to the graduate painting program at the University of Cincinnati. Working with Robert Knipschild and Frank Herrmann he received his master's degree of Fine Art in 1989. Schneider moved to New York City in 1990 to pursue his career in art and quickly became an integral part of the vibrant painting scene there.

Early in New York, Schneider worked as a studio assistant for many of New York's most recognized artists, notably Moira Dryer, Ron Gorchov, Dorothea Rockburne, Janet Fish, Chuck Close and David Salle. By taking advantage of their generational perspectives, this allowed the young artist to see first hand the inner workings of not only their relevant studios but also the gallery system that these artist’s worked within.[2]

His early exhibitions included "Presentational Painting" curated by Sanford Wumfeld and Eileen Roaman at Hunter College and the “East-West Cultural Studies” painting show curated by Robert Storr, a relationship that led to numerous projects with Storr at the Museum of Modern Art. As scenes shifted, Schneider began to show his work with a gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn formed by Leah Stuhltrager and Cris Dam, which would lead to three group exhibitions. Schneider’s work was seen as “A blending of male androgyny and American pop cultural” his reference to the "Cowboy Philosopher"[3] "...reinforced the patriarchal power dynamic juxtaposed with the sometimes vulnerable and otherwise unassuming female character.” His canvases, "...Sophisticatedly staged by the artist, draw on inferences through association in our society and culture." The narratives struck an accord in the Brooklyn art scene as Schneider continued to exhibit throughout the borough as well as, Manhattan. The relationship with the Dam Stuhltrager Gallery led to his first international exhibition in Madrid, Spain. Schneider, along with Loren Munk, Cris Dam and William Powhida exhibited at Galeria ArteVeintiuno, curated by Javier Duero from the Museo Reina Sofia.[4]

After the exhibition in Madrid Schneider continued to focus on the European art scene which led to numerous exhibitions with Hillsboro Fine Art in Dublin, Ireland. Aidan Dunne of the Irish Times declared Schneider’s work as “lively explorations of the mythology of the cowboy-gunslinger, treated humorously and with deftness of touch.” Schneider has continued to exhibit in art fairs and galleries throughout Europe, as well as, exhibitions in Chicago, Miami and New York. He has exhibited with noted artists, Julian Schnabel, Ross Bleckner and Donald Baechler as well as other New York artists and has lectured on his work at Hunter College in New York and the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art in Dublin.[5]

The Oliver Sears Gallery represents Schneider’s work in Europe and in the United States.[6]

Schneider currently resides and works in New York City.

• www.jeffschneidernyc.com