Zipora Fried’s meticulously executed drawings exemplify the perfect balance between weight and delicacy. Their subtle, basic form is the result of a tedious, yet meditative accumulation of innumerable thin graphite lines. As an obsessive examination of time—both her own and the collective passing of hours, into days, into months—Fried’s process blurs the divide between drawing, conceptual practice, and performance. The title of the series from which this work hails was inspired by one of the artist’s favorite stories. In this Jewish folktale, the Golem is borne from inanimate matter, such as clay or mud. The name of this magical being comes from a Hebrew word meaning to be incomplete or unfinished. Fried’s largest works from this period reach up to thirty feet in length and often required three to five months of daily labor to complete. Despite being two-dimensional, the imposing size and hard-edged forms of these drawings push them into the sculptural realm. With minimal means, Fried creates a “monumental feel” using a medium that is often deemed ephemeral and fragile.

Label from Drawing: The Beginning of Everything, July 8–October 15, 2017