Felix Gonzales-Torres
American, Conceptual
artist, b. 1957 d. 1996
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Gonzales-Torres
Felix
Gonzales-Torres is a Conceptual artist. Born in 1957 in Cuba, Gonzales-Torres received his BFA (Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree) from the Pratt Institute in New York in 1983 and promptly started making
art. He waited tables as a day job to pay the bills and support his art making,
until he had a show in the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York City and launched his art career,
making him a superstar in the art world. Gonzales-Torres lost his close friend
and lover Ross to AIDS which had a major impact on his artmaking
and life. Before his own death to AIDS in 1996, Gonzales-Torres created
artworks that require the interaction of the viewer somehow, such as his “candy
spills” which are piles of individually wrapped candy that the viewer can take
both as a memento and as a candy to eat while pondering the artwork’s meaning.
He also created stacks of paper, some with images, that
the viewer can also take with them as a part of the artwork. One such work is Untitled (Death by Gun), in which the
pictures of victims of gun crimes for a certain month are pictured on sheets of
paper which are stacked to a certain height. Gonzales-Torres’ work continues to
challenge and inspire and remain relevant, even today.
Works by Felix
Gonzales-Torres
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Death by Gun, 1990
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Public Opinion, 1991
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Untitled (Aparicion), 1991
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Links to Felix
Gonzales-Torres content
References
Rollins, T, Cahan, S.& Avgikos,
J.. (1993). Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Los Angeles: A.R.T. Press.
Felix
Gonzalez-Torres. Retrieved 05/02/2006, from ArtandCulture.com Web site: http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=813
(2006/4/4).
Works by U.S. Artist Felix
Gonzalez-Torres to Represent United States
at 2007 Venice Biennale, Exhibitions Also
Selected for 2006 Biennales in Cairo, Dakar and Sao Paulo.
Retrieved 05/02/2006, from US Department of State Web site:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/64112.htm