Jeffrey Deitch presents Tom Friedman’s “Cocktail Party,” (2015) one of the artist’s major works, at the 7000 Santa Monica Boulevard gallery, opening during Frieze LA week. The artist describes Cocktail Party as a “3-D cartoon, consisting of 20 figures interacting.” The group of figures blends with the group of viewers.

The exhibition will also include two recent figurative sculptures, Big Hug (2022), representing two figures in an all-consuming embrace, and Kid (2023), an 8 foot tall figure in an ecstatic gesture, textured with a multitude of objects. Pong (2017) a video projection of a vintage Pong video game will be presented in the mezzanine gallery in natural light, giving it a ghostly appearance.

Cocktail Party, Pong, Big Hug and Kid represent a maturing of Friedman’s process. This figurative sculptural work continues his investigation into the existential meaning of the object to the existential meaning of being human, the self, relationships, wonder, and the complexity of one’s experience. Present in these works are the everyday materials and humor. As Friedman says, “the humility and humor in my work allows a space to think about the seriousness of being in and of the world.”

Tom Friedman (b. 1965, St. Louis, MO) lives and works in Massachusetts. His work has been exhibited all over the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New Museum, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Fondazione Prada, Milan; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Magasin 3, Stockholm; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; South London Gallery, London and Mead Art Museum, Amherst.

On view: February 14, 2023 – April 8, 2023

What: Jeffrey Deitch, Tom Friedman
Where: Jeffrey Deitch, 7000 Santa Monica Boulevard, corner of North Orange Drive, LA, (2nd gallery)
Website: http://deitch.com