Untitled (Dollar Bill)

Tom Friedman (b. 1965, Saint Louis, MO) makes extraordinary work that explores ideas of perception, logic, and possibility. His often painstakingly rendered sculptures and works on paper inhabit the grey areas between the ordinary and the monstrous, the infinitesimal and the infinite, the rational and the uncanny. His work is often deceptive, its handmade intricacy masked by a seemingly mass-produced or prefabricated appearance. Friedman’s deadpan presentation implies content and form are seamless; expectations are overturned as the viewer slowly perceives that chasm between illusion and reality.

Friedman's work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Fondazione Prada, Milan; Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; the South London Gallery, and numerous other institutions. In Spring 2015, Friedman’s large-scale sculpture, Looking Up, was acquired by the Contemporary Austin and permanently installed at their Laguna Gloria campus.