COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0002235
image_record_id
aahi0002235
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Untitled (Orpheus, Twice)
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
1991
Work Dates type:
creation
Image Date (display):
2008-08-14
Work Creator (display):
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (American, 1958-1996)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
American sculptor and photographer of Cuban birth. He moved in 1979 to New York, where he completed a BFA in photography at the Pratt Institute (1983) and an MFA at the International Center of Photography, New York University (1987), as well as enrolling in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. In 1987 he joined Group Material, a New York-based group of artists whose intention was to work collaboratively, adhering to principles of cultural activism and community education. His own engagement as a gay man with socio-political issues, as well as his exploration of the way in which politics can infiltrate personal life, forms the background to his work, centred around the interaction of public and private spheres. In 1989 he presented his first stacked-paper work, Untitled (Memorial Day Weekend) and Untitled (Veterans Day Sale), exhibited together as Untitled (Monuments) (L. and R. Plehn priv. col., see 1994 exh. cat., p. 20). This consists of two stacks of sheets measuring 29×23 in, printed with the bracketed words of the titles, neatly piled (at an ideal height of 22 in) to resemble Minimalist floor sculptures. By inviting gallery visitors to take the sheets, Gonzalez-Torres undermines Minimalist principles of social and aesthetic autonomy, suggesting that the artwork is completed by the viewers' physical interaction with (and consumption of) the work. This strategy also criticizes the ways in which ideas are propagated through an art practice; by offering a work that depends on the projection and contemplation by its audience. His placing of personal, biographical material in the public realm was especially evident in Untitled (1991; E. and W. Dannheisser priv. col., see 1994 exh. cat., p. 17), in which he presented a black-and-white photograph (of an inviting, recently vacated double bed) on billboards in 24 locations throughout Manhattan. Although made shortly after the death of his partner, Ross Laycock, this project was characteristically open to interpretation. His ability to create sensual metaphor for private life in public can be seen with Untitled (Perfect Lovers) (1991; Dannheisser Found., see 1994 exh. cat., p. 74), in which two synchronized clocks, of the type to be found in offices and public spaces, are displayed side by side; the implicit romanticism is tempered by the inevitable fact of one stopping before the other. In 1992 Gonzalez-Torres was granted a DAAD fellowship to work in Berlin, and in 1993 a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He died from AIDS-related causes. (John-Paul Stonard. "Gonzalez-Torres, Felix." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 18 Mar. 2009 .)
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
death
subject
death
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
mirrors
subject
mirrors
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
mourning
subject
mourning
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
Orpheus (Greek mythology)
subject
Orpheus (Greek mythology)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
installations (visual works)
work_type
installations (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
sculpture (visual works)
work_type
sculpture (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
sculptures and installations
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
sculptures and installations
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
mirror
Work Measurements (display):
190.5 cm (H) x 139.8 cm (W)
Work Measurements (display):
190.5 cm (H) x 64.5 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
private collection
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
owner
Image Source Reproduction citation:
La Biennale de Venezia. Think with the Senses, Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense/ la Biennale di Venezia ; 52. Exposizione internzionale d'arte ; [curated by Robert Storr]. New York : Rizzoli International, 2007.
image_source_copy_from_print_name
La Biennale de Venezia. Think with the Senses, Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense/ la Biennale di Venezia ; 52. Exposizione internzionale d'arte ; [curated by Robert Storr]. New York : Rizzoli International, 2007.
Image Source Reproduction citation
false
Image Source Reproduction refid:
978-88-317-9256-1
Image Source Reproduction page number:
131
Image Source Reproduction refid type:
ISBN
Image Rights (display):
unknown
Image Rights fair use checklist:
1) use of this image is for education and educational research; 2) access is restricted to University of Colorado and Auraria Higher Education Center communities; 3) the original photographer is credited if known; 4) the image is published; 5) the amount of the work in relation to the whole is needed for education or educational research; 6) the number of derivatives is the minimum required for education or educational research; 7) the image has not been found to be reasonably available for sale; 8) duplication of the image does not violate preexisting contracts.
Work Rights (display):
© Felix Gonzalez-Torres
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Collection
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see