Felix Gonzalez-Torres (b. 1957, Cuba – d. 1996, USA)
Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991

I’ve been bypassing Gonzalez-Torres in this blog on the basis of lacking common ground in terms of formal qualities of the works. However, as I have shifted my attention from superficial formal resemblance to more conceptual aspects of how the work works and what it does, pertinence was immediately obvious in the pushing of the boundaries of medium.

Is it a sculpture? Well, for a traditional sculpture it’s changing too much as audience is taking the candy. Is it ephemeral? Well, sort of, bu it keeps being refilled indefinitely. Is it an installation? Yes, but it also invites interaction and actual removal of its elements by the audience; it would also be constructed of new elements in each location. Is it conceptual instruction piece? I remember encountering it in Kiev of all places, prior to my deeper engagement with art, and was quite startled of what that was, how to appreciate or otherwise engage with it.

I am aiming to superimpose or clash various media as well, positioning the audience in a position of uncertainty where traditional behavioural norms would not offer sufficient guidance, requiring active consideration and less than secure decision of how to proceed. On the other hand, I would rarely aim to codify the piece so heavily with particular symbolic meanings…