"Things Pulled Apart"
By Anthony Downey
There are shows in which the presence of gallery attendants is advisable, and there are others where it is mandatory. It is within the latter category that Tom Friedman’s solo show at the South London Gallery falls. Whilst the majority of Friedman’s works can be said to be fragile – in the sense that they are often made of frangible materials – his Untitled (2004) is literally as delicate as a strand of hair, and just as imperceptible to the naked eye. Untitled
(2004) has a sub-title which explains all: ‘Hair connected end to end extends from the ceiling to a hair spark suspended 1/2" from the floor installed in open space so the air currents move the hair spark around’. In the atrium-like space of the impeccably refurbished South London Gallery, the insubstantial nature of this piece belies its incremental effect. At first, the viewer is only aware of the gallery attendant who stands protectively to one side of the work; however, upon drawing closer, you do become aware of a small, spider-like, tuft of knotted hair hovering precariously above the floor, and only then the 5 meter long strand of twisted hair that suspends it from the ceiling above. What was visually dormant is suddenly invested with a surprising dynamism – a vertiginous sense of its ‘being there’ and the fact that one more step closer and the whole piece could be destroyed.
In terms of form and practice, Untitled (2004), with its diligent instantiation of an object from a series of instructions, is broadly indicative of Friedman’s work. Although it would be easy to note Friedman’s obsessiveness in his use of materials – which often involves an absurdist level of industriousness – such an observation only gets us so far with the work, and ultimately not far enough. The enduring character of this work is its exploratory, sometimes amusing, rigor; and whilst this could be viewed solely on a formal level, it is also a conceptual gambit – an opening move that predicates Friedman’s activity as an artist. ‘Untitled’ (2004) –
‘A silhouette of a hand whose surface is a collage comprised of small bits of images of all the artist’s works’ – is a further case in point, portraying as it does the ever-present hand of the artist as he deconstructs an idea or set of materials and re-assembles them into both a visual and conceptual conundrum. Things do not so much fall apart here, as they are literally pulled apart with the thoroughness of a forensic investigation into the very substance of the material being used and, perhaps more importantly, its latent potential.
