When Professor of Fine Arts Milton Friedly was invited to participate in an art show in Lancaster, the first question he asked himself was “Can I do a show for this space?” His initial plan was to do one or two large installations. He has a piece that is 56 Dell keyboards entitled QWERTY which he wanted to include in the show, but the space runs on a hanging system. Because he already told them he would do the show, Friedly decided to which led him to ask “I want to make them begin to think about the future you know, ‘why is he doing this?’.” Dr. Friedly says. In this show he showcased numerous art pieces that collectively shared one thing in common, the idea that we belong to the earth.
“In the art world, oftentimes we’re chasing after shows—it’s kind of like chasing the wind or chasing your tail,” Friedly said. “I suppose you get to a point in your career when you say, ‘Okay. I’m going to stop chasing things, or at least I’m not going to run as hard’ and hope that things come to you.”
“A lot of my work is unconventional.”
“The idea [of a college show] is that you’re sharing with the intellectual community—the staff, the faculty, the students. And hopefully with my work, we’re raising questions.”
“We are of the earth, and we are going back into the earth,” he said, as he starts talking about one of his major pieces. Three Hand Trucks USA at Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Institute of Contemporary Art had a theme of “movable, inflatable and hovering.” Friedly wanted the viewers to think about the history of the object rather than only what was displayed. “I always check the trash,” he says, which is a part of his recycling and consumption subject. Another major piece designed by Friedly is Scout Direction, a piece inspired by Professor/ Director, Odis Kitchen. “Professor Odis was like my mentor when I came to Elizabethtown College” Friedly expresses. This piece is a sitting sculpture of Professor Odis’s face. There are L.E.D lights lit up in the pupil of the eyes and binoculars with red wire placed on the back of this head. Leading up to the face there are twelve VHS tapes. When asked what does this all mean he replied with a laugh and smile “Technology and direction in your life. Mistakes that is how we learn.” “Take a risk.”
Tell Me is another one of Dr. Friedly’s major pieces. This is an interactive piece which focuses on privacy and who we are. It also, once again emphasizes outdated technology. For a few of his smaller works Dr. Friedly brings in a few of his personal stories. In his piece Democratic Control he tells us that his five year old grandson inspired him to create this piece. He begins to tell the story of how he and his grandson fight over the remote control, which led him to say “If you change the channel one more time I will cut it in half.” To his amazement, he cut in half, but it is now displayed in an art show cast in bronze. “We do not have a true democracy.. it is more of a republic, things are not fair.” He wanted to show that in this world people maneuver to get where they want, and adds “Also, infrared is cool” with a sly grin.
Dinosaurs and Wire embodies a lighthearted and whimsical theme that makes us ask the question, do we really know what dinosaurs look like? What exactly is their color and texture, “A part of it is our imagination” Dr. Freidly says. The wire in this piece signifies the wire to transport electricity, which represents electricity generated with coal. Leading on to carbon and carbon dating with dinosaurs. The egg shape of the piece is meant to be comical and ask the question “which came first the dinosaur or the egg?” “Everything is in perfect order or we would not be here is what I am really saying in this piece” he says. Finally, Reflection of an Atomic Baby brings another one of Friedly’s personal stories in. Friedly was born in the baby boom generation which makes him think of himself as a baby boomer. Keith Haring’s graffiti of a baby on his back with rays inspired Friedly’s piece. He took a mirror at a sixty degree angle and put it on a box. There he videotaped a baby in nude “I loved these clips because as the baby opened its mouth it looked as if it were singing ‘were all atomic’.”
Dr. Friedly grew up on a farm in Wyoming which led to his beliefs and thoughts of the earth. He believes we belong to the earth and were attached to the grid. He laughed and said “The lions and chimpanzees are not calling the shots.”
-Rehana Persaud
