Tom Friedman

American, born 1965

Everything

1992-1995

pen on paper

From 1992 to 1995, Tom Friedman
transcribed every word from a standard English
dictionary onto a 36-inch x 36-inch piece of
paper. The words are spread out heterogeneously,
like paint splatters, mapping a textured blue
landscape. The words represent a total system
(the English language) defined in a space
(the paper).

A sense of the absolute is common in
Friedman's work. The materials define their own
limits, evoking the reflexive density of a
fractal. The work defines Everything using the
method and material of the words themselves.
Friedman describes this process as revealing
a circular logic -- "The explaining becomes the
object [art] as opposed to the indicator."
That is, the conclusion becomes the question.