In 2016, "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) was installed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the exhibition Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible. The exhibition, curated by Lisa Yun Lee and Theaster Gates, sought to "ask a series of questions about how whiteness is both invisible and dominant: Is there any such thing as white culture? What is the secret to being white? How has whiteness changed over time? What does a world without racism look like?" The work was included in Could Not Bear the Sight of It: Contemporary Art Interventions on Critical Whiteness, an exhibition at the Jane Addams Hull House-Museum in Chicago, IL in 2012. The work has been interpreted as an "allegorical portrait" of Laycock. González-Torres' partner Ross Laycock died of AIDS related complications in 1991, the same year as "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)'s creation. The press release for the exhibition stated: “The real life and work of an artist exists within its own flowing continuum.” “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) was first exhibited in a solo-presentation of the artist’s work at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery, Los Angeles, CA which was open from October 19 – November 16, 1991. On average, we add 15 or 20 pounds weekly." Sometimes the handlers would add candies to rebalance the piece's color. For instance, art handlers at the Art Institute of Chicago recalled that "During very busy periods, may replenish the pile twice weekly, with approximately 45 pounds being added to the sculpture. The amount of candy changes as exhibitors make decisions about the weight that is initially installed, viewers choose to take candies from the work, and whether the candy is allowed to diminish and/or is replenished over the course of an exhibition. While the ideal weight of the work is a constant, the actual weight of the candies used to manifest the work is always in flux. The candy works have been exhibited as rectangular carpets of candies, heaped in the corners of exhibition spaces, spread across the floor in organic arrangements and shaped into mounds on the ground, etc. The specific type of candy used to manifest the work, the initial choice of configuration and overall size and shape of a particular manifestation of the work are decided by the exhibitor. Viewers are permitted to choose to take a piece of candy from the work and the caption describes that there is an “endless supply” of candies. Presentation Ī manifestation of "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) consists of a pile of candies individually wrapped in variously colored wrappers. This candy work has an ideal weight of 175 lb. The candy works are manifestable the artworks aren’t physically permanent, they can exist in more than one place at a time and can vary from one installation to the next in response to the decisions made by the exhibitor, the interactions of audiences, and changing circumstances. The work is one of the twenty "candy works" in Gonzalez-Torres’s oeuvre. "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) is a work of art by Félix González-Torres, currently in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Overall dimensions vary with installation Candies in variously colored wrappers, endless supply
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |