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Tom Friedman

October 24–December 2, 2006
Beverly Hills

Tom Friedman Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Works Exhibited

Tom Friedman, balloonsonceiling, 2006 Paper-mache, paint and string, 83 ½ × 47 × 48 inches (212.1 × 119.4 × 121.9 cm)

Tom Friedman, balloonsonceiling, 2006

Paper-mache, paint and string, 83 ½ × 47 × 48 inches (212.1 × 119.4 × 121.9 cm)

Tom Friedman, greenyarnalien, 2006 Yarn, Styrofoam and paint, 153 × 24 × 15 inches (388.6 × 61 × 38.1 cm)

Tom Friedman, greenyarnalien, 2006

Yarn, Styrofoam and paint, 153 × 24 × 15 inches (388.6 × 61 × 38.1 cm)

Tom Friedman, blackandwhitepaintfig., 2006 Paint, 4 × 31 × 75 ½ inches (10.2 × 78.7 × 191.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, blackandwhitepaintfig., 2006

Paint, 4 × 31 × 75 ½ inches (10.2 × 78.7 × 191.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, smallfigure, 2006 Blue Styrofoam and paint, ¾ × 2 ¼ inches (1.9 × 5.7 cm)

Tom Friedman, smallfigure, 2006

Blue Styrofoam and paint, ¾ × 2 ¼ inches (1.9 × 5.7 cm)

Tom Friedman, greypapersculpturetable, 2006 Grey construction paper, 35 × 25 ½ × 20 inches (88.9 × 64.8 × 50.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, greypapersculpturetable, 2006

Grey construction paper, 35 × 25 ½ × 20 inches (88.9 × 64.8 × 50.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, yarndog, 2006 Yarn, 79 × 29 × 48 ½ inches (200.7 × 73.7 × 123.2 cm)

Tom Friedman, yarndog, 2006

Yarn, 79 × 29 × 48 ½ inches (200.7 × 73.7 × 123.2 cm)

Tom Friedman, Circus, 2006 Mixed media, 41 × 41 × 7 inches (104.1 × 104.1 × 17.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, Circus, 2006

Mixed media, 41 × 41 × 7 inches (104.1 × 104.1 × 17.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, Circus, 2006 (detail) Mixed media, 41 × 41 × 7 inches (104.1 × 104.1 × 17.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, Circus, 2006 (detail)

Mixed media, 41 × 41 × 7 inches (104.1 × 104.1 × 17.8 cm)

Tom Friedman, bigbluefigure, 2006 Styrofoam insulation, 42 × 168 × 55 ½ inches (106.7 × 426.7 × 141 cm)© Tom Friedman. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman, bigbluefigure, 2006

Styrofoam insulation, 42 × 168 × 55 ½ inches (106.7 × 426.7 × 141 cm)
© Tom Friedman. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman, bigbluefigure, 2006 (detail) Styrofoam insulation, 42 × 168 × 55 ½ inches (106.7 × 426.7 × 141 cm)© Tom Friedman. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman, bigbluefigure, 2006 (detail)

Styrofoam insulation, 42 × 168 × 55 ½ inches (106.7 × 426.7 × 141 cm)
© Tom Friedman. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman, ream, 2006 Animated film, edition of 5Installation view, Gagosian, Beverly HillsArtwork © Tom Friedman. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Tom Friedman, ream, 2006

Animated film, edition of 5
Installation view, Gagosian, Beverly Hills
Artwork © Tom Friedman. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

About

What interests me is my inability to process everything that I am confronted with and the idea of the whole...what unifies what I do is taking something that is crystal clear to me, something that I seem to know, and finding that the closer I get and the more carefully I inspect it, the less clear it becomes.
—Tom Friedman

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Tom Friedman. This is Friedman's first exhibition with the gallery.

Empiricist, alchemist, sage, and prankster, Friedman invents startling works of art by taking very ordinary materials - paper, wire, cardboard, plastic cups, pencils, foam core, Styrofoam and other odds and ends at hand - and transforming them using highly specific processes. Whether constructing or deconstructing the object, either on a microscopic or macroscopic level, he strives to comprehend the elementary mechanisms of visual and plastic metabolism.

Earlier in his development, Friedman took bodily substances (his own excrement and hair) and subjected them to geometrical and structural rigors relating to minimalist aesthetics and purity of form. Since then he has expanded his focus to consider both the structure of information and the effects of excessive information on human consciousness. In recent work, models of diffusion abound, from an exploded body (the artist's own) fashioned from colored paper to a vast collage of images, phrases and headlines cut from the pages of the last ten years of Artforum.

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