Tom Friedman

The exhibition, conceived by Friedman and curated by Germano Celant, constitutes a wide-ranging survey of the artist?s activity up to the present day, since it comprises both his earlier works and those executed specifically for Milan. The decision to use the whole of the Fondazione Prada?s space has created an interesting dialogue between the monumental nature of the venue and Friedman?s works, often characterized by a disconcerting reduction in size. ?There will be about forty works in the exhibition?, explains the artist. ?About twenty of these will be new pieces; the rest are borrowed from museums and collectors. The exhibition space is enormous (1400 square meters) and it will be left completely open, so there will be a lot of space around each piece.? Friedman has conceived the exhibition as a whole in which each element is linked to the other and takes on another meaning because it forms part of a unifying context: ?I make work for specific exhibitions. I conceive of the whole body of work, then begin working on each piece. I move from piece to piece, working on each a little at a time. My ideas develop through this process. As my ideas evolve so does my conception of the whole body of work. I know I am finished when each piece achieves a sense of conceptual clarity and when the relationships between the works keep building upon each other.?