Maggie Friedman

Maggie Friedman bootlegs and remixes her specific areas of interest, ranging from the history of painting to the breakdown of literary conventions. She consistently abstracts different methods of advertising, which fosters the space for the examination of painting’s material concerns against appropriations of fashion, language, and beyond. Friedman recognizes the advertisement as a stand-in for something else entirely, a mirage of the Real.

In alignment with her paintings, she recently self-published Novel, which purports to be a work of fiction, though its narrative integrity implies otherwise. The publication enforces a sense of ongoingness that is also eminent in Friedman’s paintings and is printed directly on the fabrics she uses to create her garments. The text’s self-awareness bolsters the vitality of the paintings and clothing alike, establishing a reciprocal relationship ensuing between each pursuit. Friedman ultimately exists in a state of boundlessness, where the forms she executes remain opened to the world rather than consigned to their specific dimensions.

Monochrome persists as a representation of issues such as the non-standardization of pigment, and an exploration of "the void." Color is ultimately liquidated of its meaning as Friedman celebrates the interchangeability of gold, copper, green, and silver. Impasto is likewise applied as surface accessories, further muddying the territories between Friedman’s three formal pursuits. She networks her different modes of production, interpolating them to discourage distinct borderlines. In the paintings she describes a process and a history at once, while the writings persist as a vehicle to reinforce her compositions as well as her clothing practice. In the end, Friedman triumphs through her admission of painting’s relativism, developing compositions that call to question the limitations of genre and the constraints of the medium.