cahier de references

5. The Companions of Cadmus Devoured by a Dragon

X-Ray by MrBonecracker

Untitled (USA Today), 1990.

Untitled (Throat), 1991.

Untitled (North), 1993.

1200 pounds of silver-wrapped hard-candy. Public is invited to take the candies and help the installation disappear.

"Felix Gonzalez-Torres ‘Untitled’ (Portrait of Ross)is an allegorical representation of the artist’s partner, Ross Laycock, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991. The installation is comprised of 175 pounds of candy, corresponding to Ross’s ideal body weight. Viewers are encouraged to take a piece of candy, and the diminishing amount parallels Ross’s weight loss and suffering prior to his death. Gonzalez-Torres stipulated that the pile should be continuously replenished, thus metaphorically granting perpetual life."

Untitled (Golden), 1995.

Untitled (Golden), 1995.

Lovers, 1988.

Gonzales-Torres’s iconic work “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) is a pair of identically round, ready-made wall clocks, with their batteries synchronized to the same time upon installation. Although their synchronous movement seems interminable, the clocks eventually fall out of sync due to the mechanical glitches, and one clock ultimately expires before the other. Considering the artist’s relationship with his lifelong partner, Ross, who battled with AIDS for most of the 8 years they were together, every minute and second of time resonates with exceptional poignancy. At the same time, the ordinariness of the clocks does not readily reveal the subtle references contained within. The paired clocks not only symbolize the couple’s love, life and death, but their identical shapes also allude to homosexuality, expressing the artist’s subtle yet powerful statement against social prejudice.