Project 1: Process
ARTIST RESEARCH:

Tom Friedman & Janine Antoni

Tom Friedman

Tom Friedman takes the everyday object and presents it in such a way that it is broken down and something new is manifested. The reaction he receives may be mixed, but more intriguing if one considers his process. He has a purpose between his actions and artwork. His concept that “the end reveals the beginning” is extremely intriguing and which he shows through his process.

The simplicity of his artwork is created through the process of often times breaking down his objects, and however long this may take, a new result is created. Friedman feels that he takes the monotony from everyday forms and these objects become complex forms, wherein the beauty is created (Kramer).

Friedman takes an ordinary object a pencil, with the one purpose of mark making and transforms it into something entirely new. He has broken down the form of a pencil and formed ball in which you can clearly see his intentions. This form becomes almost obessive in the sense that the pencils have been broken up into hundreds of pieces and re arranged. In this new form, the pencil has lost all sense of usage as it is no longer capable of being used as a pencil anymore.

The viewer clearly sees his obsessive intentions in the complexity of the broken up pencil interwoven into a ball. His process is of a repetitive nature as he has repeatedly broken up and reassembled a pencil over and over again. Obsessive is the word which can be used here, because Friedman loves the concept of repetition, something which is very tedious and takes a very long time. This is a very important element in his process art. When you look at his artwork, you see a pattern within his artowkr, a pattern which is with a purpose and every placement of his materials is with great intent.

In this piece, you first see an explosion in a star-like formation. Upon closer inspection, it is a starburst sculpture created with 30,000 toothpicks. The act of assembling the thousands of toothpicks allows the viewer to get a closer look into the work that went behind this piece.

Untitled, 1995

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Untitled, 1990

He takes organic objects as well and forms them into spectacular pieces of art. Here, he has taken his own pubic hair and formed it into a perfect spiral on the surface of a bar of soap in Untitled (1999). He takes the idea of hair sticking to a bar of soap and given it a sense of impermanence (Huff).

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Untitled, 1994

Tom Friedman is often referred to as obsessive in his efforts to create art.
Here, in Untitled (1994) he has obsessively carved his own head out of an aspirin pill.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Janine Antoni

Janine Antoni walks the fine line of performance art and sculpture. Her main materials come from her own body and give an organic sense to all of her artwork. She often involves herself with her art in the sense that she licks, chews, or rubs away at her art making her own mark in the piece.

While putting a part of herself into her artowkr, the viewer can clearly see her direct involvement with the process. Antoni puts her entire self into a piece, not only her time and thought process, but her own mark- literally.

Gnaw,1982

In Gnaw (1982) the artist gnawed at 600 lbs. of chocolate and 600 lbs. of lard. The teeth marks left show her involvement in this piece.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Loving Care, 1993

Janine Antoni mopped the floor with her hair soaked in dye in Loving Care (1993), and created a certain movement illustrating her hair. This piece required not only involvement from the artist but a certain amount of physical exertion as well.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Janine Antoni also creates more sculpture-oriented pieces. Her Gnaw detail piece (1992) which is an everyday object created with beeswax, lard, and chocolate from her larger piece, Gnaw. While viewing her works, her process is very clear, and you can see the artist’s individual marking and signature on her pieces, most often through consumption and marks left by teeth.