Lance Friedman (at right) works with Ben Cobb and the Museum of Glass hotshop team during his recent artist residency. photo: ken emly
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Lance Friedman: I have no desire to make work that doesn’t have an idea as its armature. Purely decorative work can’t hold my interest and makes me restless to do other things. It was this restlessness that caused me to take two years off from making art. I had a conversation with the critic and artist Maria Porges who had done the same thing and thought it would be beneficial. After my hiatus, I found myself teaching at Corning, getting into their permanent exhibition, accepting a position on the GAS board and then a Tacoma Museum of Glass residency, all within the first six months of my reentry.
Lance Friedman's new work Conduit was one of 14 sculptures he made during his 2010 residency at the Museum of Glass. photo: ken emly
I’m currently continuing work that was realized during the residency in Tacoma. My objective was to create “active containments” in the glass. These included work that was created to allow steam, water, or smoke to travel through it. Some of the forms were indicative of flexible conduit. There are forms with working “smoke stacks,” a rolling pin that prints kisses in sand and finally rolling and magnifying environments for a fish and a hamster respectively.
A detail from Lance Friedman's 2010 work Conduit. photo: ken emly
Lance Friedman's 2010 work Black Stack made at the Museum of Glass hotshop. photo: ken emly
GLASS: What artwork have you seen recently that has inspired you and got you thinking about your own work?
Lance: The artwork that most recently inspired me was the work of Olafer Eliasson and his show “Take Your Time” at the Museum of Contemporary Art here in Chicago. What struck me was that he had tapped into a “sense of wonder” where each piece was an experience unto itself. It was this feeling that I’ve been searching for in my own work for so long. Dennis Oppenheim and Charles Ray share a link to Eliasson and my earliest influence — H.C. Westermann. Each of these artists feel a body of work doesn’t have to be visually tied to another. They can be completely unique as if made by different artists. I find this to be quite liberating and allows me the freedom to sketch without the self-imposed shackles of a signature style.
GLASS: Where is it possible to see you work ?
Lance: I quit my association with my gallery during my time off so my work can be seen at lancefriedmansculpture.com. That’s where I’ll be uploading my newest work as it is finished and fitted with the pumps and motors once they arrive in Chicago.
You can also view the making of one of the 14 pieces I made in Tacoma on YouTube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcs1E6d9WGA]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/user/museumofglass?feature=mhum#p/u/12/Kcs1E6d9WGA]