"Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)

Description

Felix Gonzalez-Torres produced meaningful and restrained sculptural forms out of common materials. “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) consists of an ideal weight of 175 pounds of shiny, commercially distributed candy. The work’s physical form and scale change with each display, affected by its placement in the gallery as well as audience interactions. Regardless of its physical shape, the label lists its ideal weight, likely corresponding to the average body weight of an adult male, or perhaps the ideal weight of the subject referred to in the title, Ross Laycock, the artist’s partner who died of complications from AIDS in 1991, as did Gonzalez-Torres in 1996. As visitors take candy, the configuration changes, linking the participatory action with loss—even though the work holds the potential for endless replenishment.

Provenance

The artist; sold through Luhring Augustine Hetzler, Los Angeles, to Vivian and David Campbell, Warren, VT by Mar. 21,1992 [email from Zachary Boozer, Luhring Augustine Gallery, Jun. 3, 2022; copy in curatorial object file]; sold through Luhring Augustine, New York, to Donna and Howard Stone, Chicago, Nov. 10, 1995 [invoice in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 13, 2022.

"Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

1991

Accession Number

152961

Medium

Candies in variously colored wrappers, endless supply

Dimensions

Dimensions vary with installation; ideal weight 175 lbs.

Classification

installation

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Donna and Howard Stone