l: 'there', 200,1 paper cube splat, courtesy the artist
r: 'untitled', 2001, paper figure lying down, courtesy the artist

the largest and most complete retrospective of the artist's work
prada foundation, milan
24 october - december 2002
http://www.fondazioneprada.org

the exhibition project, conceived by friedman for the space at the
fondazione prada in milan, consists of a show that includes
thirtyeight works created over the period 1989-2002.
a dozen new ones and the other borrowed from museums and collectors.
'I make work for specific exhibitions. I move from piece to piece,
working on each a little time, my ideas develop through this process.
I know I am finished when each piece achieves a sense of conceptual
clarity and when the relationships between the works keep building
upon each other.' friedman says.

tom friedman's funny and clever sculptures are passive-aggressive,
we see them through the eyes of the outsider, the alien, the artist.
looking at these sculptures is sort of like looking too closely
in the mirror and seeing fields of blackheads on your otherwise
lovely and photogenic nose. but at the same time things are
simpler here on friedman's side.
there is humor in his work, but it is very modest and lightly
dispensed. the exquisite fragility is very relaxing.
simple and sometimes trivial ideas are taken to the extreme of
credibility. his pieces are descriptive but devoid of content,
and others spatially empty while inhabited by history.