cover image Dan Friedman: Radical Modernism

Dan Friedman: Radical Modernism

Dan Friedman. Yale University Press, $70 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-300-05848-2

Iconoclastic, Cleveland-born artist and designer Friedman creates wildly imaginative furniture, colorful futuristic room interiors, totem-like painted screens, wittily subversive posters, attention-grabbing company logos and kinetic book designs. His metaphysical assemblages of found objects incorporate archetypal symbols, while his hovering sculptures combine motorized elements, lights and images of Hindu gods. Friedman's 1984 installation, Postnuclearism, conjures an apocalyptic process radically altering our priorities. The iconic Three Mile Island Lamp is a chilling reminder of environmental disaster. In these stimulating, galvanically illustrated essays and manifestos, Friedman, senior critic at the Yale University School of Art, castigates modern design as overspecialized and enslaved to the values of commerce. He calls for a broadening of modernism to embrace cultural diversity, spirituality and ecological awareness. (Nov.)