The Perfection of Art Is to Conceal Art Meaning
- 1 Who was Felix Gonzalez-Torres?
- ii Perfect Lovers
- iii The significant
- 4 What happens when the batteries dice?
- 5 Video: Curator Jasper Precipitous on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's clocks
- 6 Analysis
- 7 Conclusion
Who was Felix Gonzalez-Torres?
Felix Gonzalez-Torres was a Cuban-born American artist known for his minimal sculptures and installations in which he used 24-hour interval to day materials such as clocks, lightbulbs, stacks of papers, and even packaged hard candies one .
Many people believe some of his work is a reflection of his feel with AIDS. Felix Gonzalez-Torres was an openly gay artist who idea it was much stronger to consider the homosexual and straight audition as the same and that Cuban-born American is the same as existence American.
Perfect Lovers
Untitled (Perfect Lovers) (1991) is one of his famous works. It consists of two clocks that start in synchronization. Slowly and expectedly, they fall out of time. This is acquired by running out of batteries as well equally the nature of the machinery.
The meaning
The slice is a moving comment on his private life. Information technology symbolizes the artist's HIV-positive partner Ross Laycock and his dawdling decline and inevitable expiry from AIDS. The two clocks correspond 2 mechanical heartbeats, which are illustrative of the two lives ordained to fall out of sync and carry moving poesy well-nigh personal loss and the temporal nature of life.
Don't be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, the fourth dimension has been so generous to united states of america. Nosotros imprinted fourth dimension with the sweetness taste of victory. Nosotros conquered fate past coming together at a sure TIME in a sure infinite. We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit where information technology is due: time. We are synchronized, now forever. I love you.
– Felix Gonzalez.
Untitled (Perfect Lovers) also exemplifies the creative person's desire to create artworks that hold multiple interpretations. While the initial reflection is evidently about his own homosexual human relationship, the nonfigurative nature of the 2 clocks' bandy for bodies allows the piece to be read literally as a metaphor for dear.
The artist explained how he, more than oftentimes than not, resisted the label of gay fine art during the era of extreme censorship and controversy over the NEA funding for Robert Mapplethorpe:
Ii clocks side by side are much more than threatening to the powers that be than an epitome of two guys sucking each other'south [email protected] because they cannot use me as a rallying point in their boxing to erase meaning. It is going to be very difficult for members of Congress to tell their constituents that money is existence expended for the promotion of homosexual art when all they accept to prove are two plugs side by side or two mirrors side by side….
What happens when the batteries die?
Yet, sometimes the batteries die, and it is still possible to replace the batteries and reset the ii clocks at the same fourth dimension.
When the clocks were installed, they were to touch. The two black-rimmed clocks could be, however, replaced with white store-bought clocks with the same dimensions and pattern. The two hands, infinitesimal and second, were to be fix in sync with the awareness that the two easily might eventually become out of sync during display. If one of the clocks required bombardment replacement, it was to be done, after which the clocks were to be reset at the same time. The clocks were to be exhibited against a wall painted in low-cal blue.
Gonzalez-Torres admitted that the clocks would ultimately fall out of synch, and ane sooner or afterwards stopping first. Time is something that scares me … or used to. This piece fabricated with the two clocks was the scariest matter I take always done. I wanted to face information technology. I wanted those two clocks right in forepart of me, ticking.
Video: Curator Jasper Abrupt on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's clocks
2 min 28 sec
Assay
Taking a quick wait at the ii store-bought clocks hanged adjacent, at that place isn't much that would propose that this is art. Merely starting from the title of the piece, we become the first hint, Perfect lovers. 2 lovers, standing side by side, ticking in sync.
The 2nd hint comes in the form of instructions on how the two clocks should be displayed. It is a must the ii clocks were to touch and could be replaced with white plastic commercial clocks of similar dimensions and blueprint. The guidelines continue, the infinitesimal and 2d hands were to be set in sync, with the understanding that eventually they might become out of sync during the exhibition. If one of the clocks needed the batteries replaced, it was to be done, and the clocks were to be reset accordingly; the clocks were to be displayed on a wall painted low-cal blue.
The guidelines consist of an ambiguous statement: with the understanding that eventually they might go out of sync, if you consider the implication of the phrase perfect lovers, more often than not or equally per those words, perfect love should ideally forever stay synchronized.
However, as much equally we worship and espouse this idea in our minds, as we know or should know, the natural state of the universe is to fall towards entropy eventually. Therefore, nosotros sympathise that the two clocks are destined to drop out of sync in due course.
With Untitled (Perfect Lovers), Gonzalez-Torres brings our attention to another painfully simple metaphor of love and partnership. The two clocks standing side by side reflect a connectedness between them. They seem to support each other, to exist united, to move together as one peacefully. The stillness of the two timepieces, alongside the minimalism of the design and muted solid shades of white, black, and low-cal blue, induce a sense of peace.
Conclusion
The two clocks became a bitter-sweet representation for lovers. Outset, the piece marks the fourth dimension when everything between the two perfect lovers is in sync, and simultaneously, it is an aide-mémoire that period of total bliss fades as time passes, and the two lovers motion further and farther apart. Yet, the two clocks are at all times standing side past side, howbeit after years, they become hours apart.
Gonzalez-Torres oeuvre explores the humanity behind the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. These odes ordinarily employ reproducibility and interaction with the audience to interconnect the depth of his love and loss. Untitled (Perfect Lovers) utilizes 2 ubiquitous objects that are eventually destined to interrupt their perfect harmony.
In this piece, specially, the creative person wished to include the audience/viewer equally an active agent in producing its meaning. He set up private memories and nostalgic journeys into the public domain, expecting to assist viewers in transcending the personal to arrive at a collective feel about the human spirit and social adept.
All images: Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation unless otherwise noted.
Footnotes
- https://publicdelivery.org/felix-gonzalez-torres-untitled-portrait-of-ross-in-l-a-1991/
Source: https://publicdelivery.org/felix-gonzalez-torres-clocks/
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