The Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled, 1993 by Tom FriedmanAuthor(s): Daniel SchulmanSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1, Modern and ContemporaryArt: The Lannan Collection at The Art Institute of Chicago (1999), pp. 80-81+99Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4113007 .

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Tom Friedman (AMERICAN; BORN 1965)

Untitled, 1993 String; 90.2 x 81.3 x 81.3 cm (351/2 x 32 x 32 in.) [see p. 89]

2"

om Friedman operates by training his critical and

perceptual faculties on commonplace materials and

objects, turning them into something unanticipated and extraordinary. He composed this whimsical piece purely of ordinary cotton string. To achieve this eccentric form, Friedman draped hundreds (perhaps thousands) of lengths of the string upon one another.' The result is a three-foot-

high sculpture with an unsettling kind of presence. By a

process of repetition, the normally lifeless material appears to gather and thrust itself upward, with a slightly tumescent

bulge. The cotton fibers on the surface catch the light; the

object's silky, gossamer surface suggests both hair and a fountain or waterfall. Friedman has acknowledged an unin- tended resemblance between his sculpture and "Cousin It," the creature composed purely of hair and eyeglasses from the i96os television sitcom The Addams Family. "It"-the word and the character-is synonymous with the indefinite or ambiguous object.2

In his work, Friedman makes art-historical refer- ences-both respectful and parodic-that are close to the surface. This untitled string piece shares a strong Dada ele- ment with Jean Arp's organic, rising forms; Friedman's

draping method--obsessively repeated until it produces a sculptural form of unforeseen proportions and shape- recalls the chance operations of both Arp and Marcel

Duchamp. Duchamp himself once used a mile of string in an

unprecedented way: to obscure the installation of the historic exhibition "The First Papers of Surrealism," held in New York in 1942. Reflecting more recent trends, Untitled's purity of color brings to mind the Arte Povera works of Piero Manzoni known as "achromes," and Friedman's simple materials and

strategy of repetition are related to important aspects of Minimalism and Process Art of the I96os and 1970s.

But just as Friedman's work engages with major move- ments of twentieth-century art, it also functions on an inti- mate level, alluding to how each of us perceives and shapes our individual experience of the world. Friedman has

employed such homely materials as chewing gum, pencils, toilet paper, aspirin, laundry detergent, and typing paper- modest, standardized, everyday items that assume an impor- tance disproportionate to their humble origins. The string

piece is one of a series of works addressing the ideas of size, volume, and order. Others include a plastic garbage bag filled to bursting with other garbage bags; a sheet of paper on a pedestal with the exact same dimensions as the paper; and a selection of cheap plastic and rubber balls stolen from stores, entitled Hot Balls. String itself has intriguing associative qualities: rarely bought, it is often saved in a kitchen drawer; it appears in fairy tales; and, tied around a finger, it serves as a reminder. For Friedman there is something inherently goofy or "stupid" about this mater- ial, something shapeless and trashy.3 String is, however, useful, and, as Friedman's string piece demonstrates, its applications are ultimately unpredictable. D. S.

80 Museum Studies

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Museum Studies 81

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Explosion at Sea, 1966, pp. 30-31

I. Philadelphia, p. 15.

2. According to David McKee (McKee to Lisa Lyons of Lannan Founda- tion, Los Angeles, 1992), Explosion at Sea is based on a photograph of an unsuccessful Kamikaze pilot attack on a United States aircraft carrier, the Suwannee, which took place in October 1944 in the Pacific theater of World War II.

3. On the relationship of the series to Celmins's childhood, see Los Angeles; and Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vija Celmins, exh. brochure (i993).

4. Celmins, quoted in Philadelphia, p. 15.

CLOSE, CHUCK

Close, Chuck. The Portraits Speak: Chuck Close in Conversation with 27 of His Subjects. New York, I997.

Guare, John. Chuck Close: Life and Work, 1988-1995. New York, 1995. Lyons, Lisa, and Robert Storr. Chuck Close. New York, 1987. Minneapolis, Walker Art Center. Close Portraits. Exh. cat. by Lisa Lyons

and Martin Friedman. 1980. New York, The Museum of Modern Art, et al. Chuck Close. Exh. cat. by

Robert Storr et al. 1998.

Alex, 1991, pp. 74-75

I. The Lannan Collection contains several objects related to the I991 Alex painting, including a Polaroid of Alex Katz (Checklist no. ii) and a Polaroid used as a maquette (Checklist no. 12).

2. Close, pp. 316-17.

3. Both paintings actually contain a range of blues and browns despite their grisaille effect.

4. Close, p. 319-

5. Ibid.

Alex/Reduction Prints, 1991-93, pp. 76-77

I. Linoleum was originally composed of linseed oil, cork, and binding agents. It is much easier to cut into than modern synthetic linoleums, which are all plastic-based. Battleship linoleum, which dates back to the turn of the twentieth century, came in huge sheets used for the decks of ships. Linoleum manufactured with the original formula is hard to find nowadays, but especially so in battleship-sized sheets.

2. Deborah Wye, "Changing Expressions: Printmaking," in New York, p. 8o.

DEFEO, JAY

Berkeley, University of California, University Art Museum. Jay DeFeo: Works on Paper. Exh. cat. by Sidra Stich. 1989.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. Beat Culture and the New America: 195o0-965. Exh. cat. 1995.

Philadelphia, Moore College of Art and Design, Goldie Paley Gallery. Jay DeFeo: Selected Works 1952-1989. Exh. cat. 1996.

San Francisco, Museo ItaloAmericano.Jay DeFeo: The Florence View and Related Works 1950-1954. Exh. cat. with essays by Klaus Kertess, Constance Lewallen, and Robert A. Whyte. 1997-

San Francisco, San Francisco Art Institute. Jay DeFeo: Selected Works, Past and Present. Exh. cat. by Thomas Albright and David S. Rubin. 1984.

The Annunciation, 1957-59, pp. 18-19

i. Philadelphia, p. ii.

2. DeFeo to J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., 1959; published in ibid., pp. 12-13-

FRANCIS, SAM

Paris, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. Sam Francis, les annies parisi- ennes, 195o0-961. Exh. cat. 1995.

Selz, Peter. Sam Francis. Rev. ed. New York, 1982.

In Lovely Blueness, 1955-56, pp. 16-17

i. Francis, quoted in Selz, p. 20.

2. Friedrich H6lderlin, Hymns and Fragments, trans. by Richard Sieburth (Princeton, N.J., 1984), p. 249.

FRIEDMAN, TOM

Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago. Affinities: Chuck Close and Tom Friedman. Exh. brochure by Madeleine Grynsztejn. 1996.

New York, The Museum of Modern Art. Projects 5o: Tom Friedman. Exh. cat. and interview by Robert Storr. 1995.

St. Louis, The Saint Louis Art Museum. Currents 70: Tom Friedman. Exh. cat. by Rochelle Steiner. 1997.

Untitled, 1993, pp. 80-81

I. Friedman started with a small, glue-infused core of stiffened string, so that the work would withstand the rigors of being moved.

2. According to Friedman, the connection to "Cousin It" pleases him not only for the linguistic suggestion of vagueness carried by the name and subject, but also for the somewhat corny humor and pop familiarity of the television show. Friedman, conversation with author, Mar. 8, 1999.

3. Ibid.

GONZALEZ-TORRES, FELIX

Gonzalez-Torres, Felix. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Interview by Tim Rollins; essay by Susan Cahan; short story by Jan Avgikos. New York, i993.

Graz, Switzerland, Neue Galerie Graz. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Rudolf Stingel. Exh. cat. by Jan Avgikos. 1994.

Hannover, Sprengel Museum, et al. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. 2 vols. Exh. cat. and cat. rais. by Dietmar Elger. Ostfildern-Ruit/New York, 1997.

Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Exh. cat. 1994.

Munich, Sammlung Goetz. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roni Horn. Exh. cat. 1995. New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Exh. cat. by Nancy Spector. 1995.

Museum Studies 99

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