PAPER AND PAINT
EACH: 75¾ x 75¾ INCHES
COURTESY OF THE NANCY A. NASHER AND DAVID J. HAEMISEGGER COLLECTION
This powerful body of work consists of three large square sheets of paper, each painted in a different primary bold color. Presented diagonally, the paper has been folded into an origami dragon and then unfolded, leaving the tears and wrinkles of the active process intrinsically embedded in the work. The texture of the diagonal lines imbues the surface with a simple, formal beauty but also bestows upon the work a kind of memory. The paper’s past becomes inseparable from its current appearance and from our interpretations of it.
Friedman poetically reconfigures the dragon in two dimensions, exposing the versatility of paper as a medium and expanding the possibilities of what mark-making can look like for the artist. The hand of the artist is simultaneously conspicuous and absent from this work leaving the viewer to contemplate deeper notions of myth and memory.
