Felix-Gonzalez Torres
*1957, Guaimaro. Died 1996 in Miami. Untitled (America) 1994/95 15 watt light bulbs, rubber light sockets, extension cords Whitney Museum of American Art Collection, NY courtesy: Andrea Rosen Gallery, NY Untitled 1989/1995 (paint on wall)courtesy Andrea Rosen Collection Felix-Gonzalez Torres' s installation "Untitled" (America) composed of twelve elements and just as many light garlands, can be seen in the Rue Philippe II next to the Casino Luxembourg. Gonzalez-Torres himself installed this work in two exhibitions in the Chicago and Santa Fe museums. On the occasion of the exhibition "EV+A" curated by Guy Tortosa in Limerick (Ireland) in 1996, the work had been set up for the first time in a street. "Untitled" (1989/1995) is a written self-portrait installed in the first staircase of the Musée national d'histoire et d'art. Felix Gonzalez-Torres always had a preference for showing his works on the fringe of an exhibition. The extreme sensitiveness of his rather simple works have turned him into one of the key figures of the art of the 1990s. He has succeeded in transposing the main issues of the beginning of the decade - AIDS, sexual and racial violence as well as the role of art in contemporary society - into practical work dealing with the poetic and metaphorical intensification of the object which is characteristic of the majority of positions adopted by contemporary artists.
Rue Philiipe II; Musée national d'histoire et d'art
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