"Untitled"

Felix Gonzalez-TorresWW-1989-013672

1989·Enamel paint on wall·Dimensions vary with installation

The self-portrait “Untitled” is composed of words and dates that are installed as a friezelike text near the ceiling of this gallery. This uncommon and deceptively simple approach exemplifies the quiet, conceptual nature of Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s work. “Untitled” interweaves personal milestones with communal events of our historical era. The artist did not limit the inscriptions to events that occurred between his birth and death. In fact, as the co-owner of the work, the Art Institute must add and subtract events, thereby granting the installation—and the artist himself—a form of renewable life. This piece reminds us that all human identity is mutable and open-ended.

Catalogue

Year: 1989
Medium: Enamel paint on wall
Dimensions: Dimensions vary with installation
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Artist

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Sculpture

Félix González-Torres or Felix Gonzalez-Torres was a Cuban-born American visual artist. He lived and worked primarily in New York City between 1979 and 1995 after attending university in Puerto Rico. González-Torres’s practice incorporates a minimalist visual vocabulary and certain artworks that are composed of everyday materials such as strings of light bulbs, paired wall clocks, stacks of paper, and individually wrapped candies. He was openly gay and frequently explored themes around his sexuality and stigma in his work. González-Torres is known for having made significant contributions to the field of conceptual art in the 1980s and 1990s. His practice continues to influence and be influenced by present-day cultural discourses. González-Torres died in Miami in 1996 from AIDS-related illness.

Guáimaro, Cuba

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