Past Self Future Self

Ellen von Unwerth

This one is half hyper-realistic, and half swapable sections based on the woman's personality, moods, and spirituality.

This one comes with a DRONE and has control panels in the wrist and forearm, as well as a flashlight and laser pointer.

This one is older, from 2012, but I still love it. Shiny shiny.

This one has a WORKING CUCKOO CLOCK IN THE KNEE. A WORKING. CUCKOO CLOCK.

Another older one, this one with realistic snake.

This is a two part one, dedicated to railway workers/builders/passengers who lost limbs. The limbs can be hooked together to allow the little train to travel between them.

This one is a literal swiss army knife arm, full of survival supplies.

Just. GAH. They are all so neat.

“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) is a 1991 piece by Felix Gonzalez-Torres in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s a spilled pile of candy. 

“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) represents a specific body, that of Ross Laycock, Gonzalez-Torres’ partner who died of AIDS in 1991. This piece of art serves as an “allegorical portrait,” of Laycock’s life. 

The pile of candy consists of commercially available, shiny wrapped confections. The physical form of the work changes depending on the way it is installed. The work ideally weighs 175 pounds (79 kg) at installation, which is the weight of Ross Laycock when healthy. 

Visitors are invited to take a piece of candy from the work. Gonzalez-Torres grew up Roman Catholic and taking a candy is a symbolic act of communion, but instead of taking a piece of Christ, the participant partakes of the “sweetness” of Ross. As the patrons take candy, they are participants in the art. Each piece of candy consumed is like the illness that ate away at Ross’s body.  

Multiple art museums around the world have installed this piece.

Per Gonzalez-Torres’ parameters, it is up to the museum how often the pile is restocked, or whether it is restocked at all. Whether, instead, it is permitted to deplete to nothing. If the pile is replenished, it is metaphorically granting perpetual life to Ross.

In 1991, public funding of the arts and public funding for AIDS research were both hot issues. HIV-positive male artists were being targeted for censorship. Part of the logic of “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) is you can’t censor free candy without looking ridiculous, and the ease of replicability of the piece in other museums makes it virtually indestructible.

Left: old wall text. Right: new wall text as of 9/28/22.

Naomi Campbell × Thierry Mugler

Ellen von Unwerth

And I love how Sweden’s like “LOL those Norwegians AM I RIGHT” and everyone else in the region’s just like “…no it’s just you Sweden”