Felix Gonzales-Torres

Rating:
Summary: Candy wrappers and light bulbs.
Review: Felix Gonzales-Torres ( 1957-1996 ) was a many-sided artist.
He uses photographs, A1 sheets of paper stacked one upon the other, light bulbs ( white not
colored ) and even large amounts of candy wrappers with the same colour.

He has everything of a minimal art performer and yet the materials he uses ( albeit not at the same time ) and the different ways of displaying his art ( walls of buildings, corridors, rooms and staircases ) are so complex that it would be laughable to call his work 'minimal art'.
If it's necessary to give him a name I would call him an explorer. I believe it's the purpose of an artist to search what lies beyond the horizon.

I believe also in the value of abstract art. It emphasizes the essence of what we see: colour, shape and the different relations between one and the other.

Art with artificial light is the fascinating area between abstract painting and sculpture. Only a few artists so far, had the courage to walk that borderline and one of them was Gonzales-Torres.
His 'light-art' is simple ( He uses for instance only burning white lamps ). For example a large corridor in a modern building has several garlands of light against one wall, or strings of white lights attached to the ceiling and pouring down like rain to the floor to form a pool of light.

If you want to know all about Gonzales and his different forms of art, please read the fascinating
book " Felix Gonzales-Torres " by William Bartsman and others.