Tom Friedman

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating to Look at
Review: Tom Friedman is a conceptual artist whose work has the remarkable ability to intrigue almost anyone. This book is impossible to not examine: the works are wonders, the layout and photography are beautiful, and the text is as enlightening as it is thought provoking.
I'm a High School English teacher and I sometimes leave this book out so that unsuspecting students can open it and marvel at Friedman's work: The bubblegum piece and the toothpicks never escape their attention. I've yet to meet anyone who can simply dismiss Friedman's work they way most installation art is written-off as unappealing to anyone without an art degree.
While the interview with Friedman occasionally lapses into vacuous philosophizing, it is surprisingly lucid and often adds another dimension to the viewer/reader's engagement of a particular piece. Friedman is especially good at addressing (and dismissing) the common (and lazy) description of his work as "obsessive."
This book's representation of Friedman's work has a popular appeal that is inextricably intertwined with its philosophical and artistic inquiry:
"bubble gum": What is craft?
"1,000 hours of staring "What is history?
"Ball of feaces": What is the line between existing and not existing?
In short: burn your art history books and replace them with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Great artist, Great collection
Review: Tom Friedman takes household objects and...well read the book jacket if you want a description of what Friedman does, the fact is this is a great book. The obsessive nature of Friedman's work really comes through in this collection, with descriptions of the painstaking process Friedman went through to create his works. One such work is a blank piece of paper that Tom Friedman literally stared at for a thousand hours, not consecutively of course. Friedman explains his thought process, how he conceptualizes his art. The "1000 hours of Staring" for example, are Friedman's attempts to "create" a history to an object (without knowing the "history" of the piece, you would simply be looking at a blank piece of paper)

It would probably be more impressive to see these pieces in person, (especially in his pieces that are very very small or emphasize 'imagined' space such as the area that Friedman had a witch put a hex on). To anyone who hate art installations and the like this book may change your mind. But don't think that Friedman only does installations, his work covers many different areas, from photograhpy to sculpture and illustration. The one quality that links all these mediums is Friedman's intricate, detailed thought process. Even people who aren't into modern art will be forced to meditate on the nature of the objects Friendman employs. Can't say enough about this book. Pick it up even if you think you don't like post modernism, pick it up even if you hate art.