Pedro Friedeberg
He is an artist and designer from Mexico of Italian origin, son of a German-Jewish family.
He did not grow up with the Jewish religion but with atheism, although he was once taken by a servant to a secret church to be baptized. Friedeberg says that, thanks to all these experiences, he has seven religions: one for each day of the week.
His work caught the attention of Mathias Goeritz who encouraged him to continue his career as an artist. Friedeberg became part of a group of Mexican surrealist artists, among whom were Leonora Carrington and Alicia Rahon, distinguished by their irreverence, rejecting the social and political art that was dominant at that time. Friedeberg has achieved the reputation of eccentric and affirms that the art has died because nothing new has been produced.
Work
Friedeberg studied for a time in Boston before enrolling at the Universidad Iberoamericana in 1957 to study architecture.
Known for his surrealist work full of lines, colors and ancient religious symbols. His best-known piece is the "Hand-Chair": a sculpture / chair designed to sit on the palm, using the fingers as a backrest and armrest. Friedeberg began studying architecture but did not complete his studies. It began to produce designs that went against conventional forms of the fifties, some as incredible as houses with roofs in the shape of an artichoke.