Tom Friedman

9 cereal boxes cut into small squares, fashioned into one box.

(detail) Styrofoam cups. Painted.

Hole-punched text.

(all images from designboom.com)

Tom Friedman is meticulous. He is obsessive. He pays close attention to detail. Like Koons, he invites the viewer to question what makes art. What I like about Tom Friedman is that the value in his work comes not from the material it was made with, but by the obvious time, care and attention given to each piece. He pays close attention to craft and always has specific content behind his work.

Also, another thing to be said about Tom Friedman is that he definitely makes comments about today's world. He lives in the now. Hole punches, foam cups, toothpicks, bars of soap - all modern human products.

Some may say that he is taking the value away from art by using things that are readily available to the average man, but to say that is unfair. By seeing art in things that normally have no connections to the subject, I think, shows intelligence.