Dani Leder

Intricate visual narratives emerge through the fusion of diagrammatic systems, emotional cartographies, and speculative thought in richly layered paintings—an approach central to Dani Leder’s practice. Working primarily on carved Coroplast panels, she combines oil, acrylic, aluminum leaf, graphite, inkjet print, and gesso to craft complex compositions that explore the dynamic relationship between psychological experience and visual expression. Her practice draws on her background in psychology and philosophy, translating concepts like craving, trauma, and desire into formal structures resembling grids, flowcharts, and symbolic charts. These systems—what she calls “love grids” or cognitive maps—become tools for navigating the internal architecture of thought, memory, and affect. Rather than presenting linear narratives, Leder’s paintings operate as open-ended diagrams that prompt reflection and interpretation. Each surface holds a multiplicity of meanings, where visual motifs function like signs within a speculative logic—at once personal and systemic, rational and intuitive. Through a precise and materially rich approach, Leder constructs spaces where abstraction meets introspection, and where emotional and intellectual terrains are rendered visible. Her work ultimately proposes painting as a thinking tool—a way of giving form to the invisible processes that govern experience, perception, and connection. ...