Artist - Tom Friedman

Tom Friedman is cool. I like him. He takes everyday objects and turns them into crap-your-pants awesome pieces of artwork. Most of the pieces I'm familiar with appear to be very tedious and look like they took a LOT of time to complete.



From what I've seen, there are quite a few pieces that are titled "untitled". I'm not sure of the reasoning behind it, but by looking at this piece (untitled, 1995) you should get an idea of the tedious nature I was talking about above. The exact number of toothpicks it took to make this thing, I do not know. All I know is that it is more of an undertaking that I would ever want to commit to.



Here's another one that I believe is made from common construction paper. Just as other, it is untitled but is intended to be a self portrait that was created in 2000. The detail is awesome and I like how Tom bridges the gap between realism in the torn body and the comic esque blood splats.



Friedman was born in St. Louis, Missouri and attended Washington University in St. Louis, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic illustration in 1988. He pursued graduate coursework at the University of Illinois at Chicago receiving a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture in 1990. His first solo exhibits were held the following year at Feature in New York City, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Rezac Gallery in Chicago. He has since exhibited in London, UK, Rome, Italy, Geneva, Switzerland and Tokyo, Japan among other cities. Friedman currently lives in Leverett, Massachusetts.