Lines that measure, lines that contain, lines that radiate, anchor, bind and compress the photographed motifs underlie all of the photocollages. In Red Stockings and the poignant Love Mom the lines suggest logic and measure, an imposed grid evoking associations with the rationalized space and experience inscribed in Eadweard Muybridge's photographs, or in the systemic painting of the 1970s. Yet in Friedberg's work, these lines are fundamentally false markers inasmuch as we are thrown into the realm of dreams and musings, interior space which resists measure or control. As Friedberg suggests, this space cannot be charted.

The irrationality of measure, of the grid, is revealed by several works in the series. In 1.7 x 7.2 and 2.7,, the numbers, and in one case lines, that seem to map, measure, and systematize the compositions, function formally and metaphorically. Formally, as Friedberg states, the lines and numbers are intended to prevent the viewer from penetrating the pictorial space. Reinforcing the undefined space of the black or grey encaustic fields, the sharp-edged lines mark the surface like writing on a page. At the same time, the lines and numbers stabilize the process of reading: 2.7 looks like an explanation, suggests science, but it provides no real clue to meaning, except to indicate size (of the composition).