Tom Friedman
Above: Untitled Collage
Below:Untitled, 2004
rigid styrofoam insulation, packing peanuts
18 x 52 x 36².
blue and pink styrofoam structure: growth, mutation; synthetic andorganic dialogue.
Friedman's art it is linked to 1960s conceptualism, arte povera and minimal to land art but his vision and working method goes beyond these historical precedents creating its own unique visual language; that of the minute and microscopic, in which his investigations focus on the smallness of things.
He gets his art supplies from drugstores, candy stores, the human body, and the supermarket. Friedman relentlessly invents intricate objects out of a range of household materials, such as styrofoam, masking tape, pencils, toilet paper, spaghetti, toothpicks and bubble gum. His work is obsessively and painstakingly crafted and is both beautiful and playful. Friedman's ability to transform common objects into something new, his devotion to material perfection, the way he conceptualizes the action of the artisan, enables him to elevate the ordinary to the status of art.
It was a great opening, a bit chili but fun! Thanks to all who made it on Saturday night. To those who couldn't, here are a couple of pictures of the event.
From right to left:
Adriana Vergara, Gallery Director; Carolina Wonder, Gina Ruggeri and Francis Trombley who will be featured as one of Miami's artists in the spring issue of ID magazine.
Below:
Gina Ruggeri's "New paintings"
Her work has a sense of lightness about it. Very subtle, yet extremely imposing. She sees her paintings as an overlap between real and imagined worlds. The works are painted with oil on Mylar. Because it is removed from the traditional frame of the rectangle, the image often appears as an illusionary object that floats in the white space of the wall, hovering in a continuum of physical and pictorial space.
