In late 1993, Felix Gonzalez-Torres agreed to inaugurate FWM’s then-new space at 1315 Cherry Street with an exhibition of new and selected works, chosen by the artist and placed in both prominent and discrete locations throughout the largely unfinished offices, studios, and exhibition spaces. To mark the occasion, Gonzalez-Torres extended his series of sheer blue curtains (“Untitled” (Loverboy), first made in 1989) and created a text portrait of FWM, which poetically chronicled significant milestones in FWM’s history as well as major cultural or world events with connection to the museum. The resulting exhibition—which also included pieces such as “Untitled” (Orpheus Twice), “Untitled” (Last Light), “Untitled” (A Corner of Baci), and “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers)—was not only a significant showing of Gonzalez-Torres’ work, it was also a sensitive introduction to FWM’s new home for the museum’s public.
The materials of Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ work are minimal, and often involve repetition—“Untitled” (A Corner of Baci), for example, is a pile of chocolate, available to visitors to eat and enjoy, and the installation instructions give specific directions to maintain the pile at 42 pounds. While the pile shrinks on a daily basis with the appetite of each passing visitor, it is later restored to its full size. This piece, like many of Gonzalez-Torres’ sculptures, is reconstructed with each installation; that is, the candy is purchased and the piece reconstituted each time the piece is shown. In 1993, Gonzalez-Torres said that “ . . . all these pieces are indestructible because they can be endlessly duplicated” (Felix Gonzalez-Torres, A.R.T. Press, Los Angeles and New York, 1993). Inherent in his enigmatic and poetic works of art are questions about context and meaning, the nature of authority and power, and ideas of beauty and loss.
