With the skills of a master craftsman, the obsessiveness of a teenage model-airplane builder, and the sense of humor and world view of a conceptual, self-defeatist prankster, Tom Friedman constructs works of art that defy cynical, uptight abstractionists and bored, foggy-eyed slouchers. Here is a man who carved his self-portrait out of an aspirin tablet; who built a standing figure, over a meter tall, out of sugar cubes; who suspended a perfect pink sphere in the corner of a room by making it out of thousands of pieces of bubble gum (which kept it stuck there just right); and who created an ephemeral floor sculpture using red eraser shavings from who knows how many pencils. And let's not forget the perfectly detailed, to-scale sculptures of spiders, flies, and bees that seem to simply alight on the corner of a museum pedestal. Or the minty-blue monochrome wall-work made entirely of toothpaste. Or the piece of paper that had been stared at for 1,000 hours. In this hefty two-volume set, which comes slipped together in a quirky, tactile case, Friedman's anti-monumental oeuvre is presented in two parts. First comes an artist's book, conceived by Friedman himself and containing drawings, photographs and sketches. Book number two is a thorough catalogue in which the whole of the artist's output is described and analyzed, accompanied by his own writings and essays by Robert Storr, John Miller, Glenn D. Lowry, Dennis Cooper and John Waters, amongst others.
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Book Description
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About the Author
Tom Friedman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1965. His work was the subject of a traveling solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. He has also had exhibitions many times in Japan and Europe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Expensive yet well worth the price,
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This review is from: Tom Friedman (2 Volume Set, Slipcase; English Edition) (Paperback)
I ordered the Tom Friedman two volume set after reading through the Phaidon Contemporary Artist Series book on Friedman multiple times. Having researched Friedman and seen him speak in the past year I can honestly say this beautiful book contains the most indepth writings on the artist to date. The second volume of the book was compiled by the artist and is a wonderful compolation of his personal photographs, sketch book pages and works of art.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Set suits the subject.,
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This review is from: Tom Friedman (2 Volume Set, Slipcase; English Edition) (Paperback)
If you are a fan of Tom Friedman's work, this two volume set is the best publication that has been published to date...covering all of his work through 2002. The slipcase is really unique, made of a textured cardboard, and the volumes themselves are beautifully printed and organized...with an abundance of information about Friedman's work and exhibition history.
The first volume is actually an artist book, put together by Friedman himself. It contains very little text, no critical text at all, and is composed of photos, sketches, and other "scrap book" type elements as a sort of record of the artist's progress. The volume is not useful to those not familiar with Friedman, but will give a rare insight into the process and mind of the artist... The second colume is the gem of the set, and almost three times the length of the first. It contains documentation of the majority of Friedman's pieces, critical essays, interviews, and other texts. Most useful, is a very in depth exhibition history which lets the reader know what works were exhibited in a given show, with installation photos from major exhibitions...allowing one to see the various combinations that sculptures have been arranged in. This book is basically a much more in depth and better produced version of the "Contemporary Artist" volume by Phaidon, and fills in many of the gaps left from that more general survey. Prada is setting a new standard for exhibition catalogs, and with each one I pick up, I remember how a good catalog can enrich one's appreciation of an artist beyond belief. It also can substitute for a given show one cannot see in person, if produced as well and with such great care as the Prada catalogs have been over the past few years.
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