Tom Friedman (b. 1965, Saint Louis, MO; lives and works in MA) is a conceptual artist known for his meticulously fabricated work, including sculpture, painting, drawing, video, and installation. Friedman investigates the concepts of perception, logic, and plausibility with a strong attention to detail. Since the early 1990s, Friedman has utilized an array of sophisticated processes to achieve a seemingly mass-produced appearance. His highly conceptual work engages both maximalist and minimalist aesthetics, as well as recalling those of Pop Art, and his practice is deeply engaged with the history of sculpture. As Friedman explains, “Art, for me, is a context to slow the viewer’s experience from their everyday life in order to think about things they haven’t thought about, or to think in a new way.” Throughout his career, Friedman has developed an important body of outdoor and public sculptures. Many of these are cast from maquettes rendered out of aluminum roasting pans, further cementing the artist’s alchemic ability to transform the everyday.
Notable Installations
December 2, 2022 - present Takeaway, Aventura Mall, Miami
June 23 - December 18, 2022 Looking Up (AR version) “Symphony of the Future”, K11
Musea, Hong Kong
December 13, 2021 - present Hazmat Love, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United
Kingdom
July 15, 2021 - present Takeaway, Beverly Gardens Park, Los Angeles, CA
January 20 – March 19, 2021 Looking Up (10 foot edition), Rockefeller Center, New York,
NY
May 7, 2019 - July 26, 2020 Hazmat Love, The Aldrich Contemporary, Ridgefield, CT
May 2019 – May 2020 Looking Up (33 foot edition), Tom Hanafan River's Edge
Park, Council Bluffs, IA
September 2018 - present Looking Up (33 foot edition), The St. Louis Planetarium, St.
Louis, MO
2018 - ongoing Hazmat Love, Sculpture Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
September 21, 2016 - Looking Up (33 foot edition), Chicago, IL, 4800 South Lake
September 30, 2017 Shore Drive
August 29, 2017 - ongoing Medium Huddle (18 foot edition), The Star in Frisco -
Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and Practice Facility,
Frisco, TX
January - September 2016 Looking Up (33 foot edition), The Fund for Park Avenue,
New York, NY
2016 Swamp Creature Friends, Mildred Lane Kemper Art
Museum, St. Louis, MO
May 9, 2015 - present Looking Up (33 foot edition), The Contemporary Austin,
Austin, TX
2010 - ongoing Circle Dance, Brown University, Providence, RI