THE BASS PRESENTS “FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES: WHAT REMAINS”, A CELEBRATION OF THE ARTIST'S LIFE AND LEGACY
Tomorrow, Saturday 9th, The Bass, the de la Cruz Collection and the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Family Archive collaborate to present a celebration day honoring the personal and artistic legacy of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his death in Miami, Florida. The virtual celebration will feature a series of three conversations joined by a panel of colleagues and scholars with distinct views and perspectives, memorializing the life of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Live on Zoom.
On view at The Bass Museum, What Remains considers González-Torres’ artistic and personal legacy on artist communities in Miami, the Caribbean and Latin America. Positioning his work, “Untitled” (L.A.), 1991, in dialogue with five artists from the region, What Remains comprises an intimate reflection on his impact of contemporary artmaking. Works on view address universal subject-matter such as life, death, love and loss, as well as González-Torres’ material and methodological vocabulary. Participating artists include Jim Hodges, Michael Linares, Teresa Margolles, Maria Martínez-Cañas, César Trasobares, and Frances Trombly.
-
Félix González-Torres - "Untitled" (Welcome Back Heroes) – 1991 - Bazooka Bubble Gum, endless supply - Overall dimensions vary with installation - Ideal weight: 200 kg (440 lb.)
-
Félix González-Torres at the De la Cruz Collection - "Untitled" – 1995 – Billboard - Dimensions vary with installation
-
Félix González-Torres - "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) – 1991 - Wall clocks and paint on Wall - Overall dimensions vary with installation - Original clock size: 14 inches diameter each
-
Installation view: Face Value: American Portraiture. Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY. 30 Jul. – 1 Oct. 1995. Cur. Donna De Salvo. [Traveling]. Image courtesy of Parrish Art Museum. Top, surrounding: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (Portrait of Elaine Dannheisser), 1993.
-
Félix González-Torres - "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) – 1991 - Wall clocks and paint on Wall - Overall dimensions vary with installation - Original clock size: 14 inches diameter each
-
Installation view: Face Value: American Portraiture. Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY. 30 Jul. – 1 Oct. 1995. Cur. Donna De Salvo. [Traveling]. Image courtesy of Parrish Art Museum. Top, surrounding: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (Portrait of Elaine Dannheisser), 1993.
-
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (1987), 1991 [Edition 1AP]. Photographer: Lance Brewer.
PART #1 | 4 - 4:55 PM
Introduction by Silvia Karman Cubiñá, Executive Director & Chief Curator of The Bass
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES' VIRAL AESTHETICS
A Talk by Dr. Robert Hobbs, Art Historian. By avoiding the traps of identity politics, Felix Gonzalez-Torres found ways to reshape established vanguard art. Dr. Robert Hobbs will analyze the artist’s major contributions through the lens of the word “virus”, which was often used by Gonzalez-Torres to describe the way his art functioned.
PART #2 | 5 - 5:55 PM
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES: PUERTO RICO
Moderated by Mario González, Director of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Family Archive
Panelists: Elvis Fuentes, Independent Curator; María Martínez-Cañas, Artist; Lilliana Ramos Collado, Ph.D. Full Professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture. Also, invited panel members, who have shared personal experiences with Felix Gonzalez-Torres as well as studied his extensive body of work, will discuss the people and places in Puerto Rico which framed Felix Gonzalez-Torres' life and career.
PART #3 | 6 - 7 PM
THE EVER-PRESENT ROLE OF THE EXHIBITOR IN FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES' WORK
Introduction by Melissa Wallen, Director of the de la Cruz Collection
Moderated by Andrew Kachel, Director & Felix Gonzalez-Torres Liaison at Andrea Rosen Gallery
Panelists:; Rosa de la Cruz, Collector and Founder of the de la Cruz Collection; Elena Filipovic, Director and Curator of Kunsthalle Basel; Andrea Rosen, President of The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation and Andrea Rosen Gallery
A significant aspect of Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s work is longevity; its life is contingent upon the decisions individuals make when exhibiting the works. In this conversation, panel members will speak to these decisions and the potential influence on the works and their meaning as they shift and evolve over time.
-
Dr. Robert Hobbs, Art Historian
-
Mario González, Director of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Family Archive
-
Elvis Fuentes, Independent Curator
-
María Martínez-Cañas, Artist
-
Lilliana Ramos Collado, Ph.D. Full Professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture
-
Melissa Wallen, Director, and Hillary Hernandez, Daniel Clapp, Chris Dougnac, Juan Gonzalez
-
Rosa de la Cruz, Collector and Founder of the de la Cruz Collection
-
Elena Filipovic, Director and Curator of Kunsthalle Basel. Photo: Natalia Evelyn Bencicova
-
Andrea Rosen, President of The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation and Andrea Rosen Gallery. Photo ©Patrick McMullan.
REGISTER HERE https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_P8E9AKrOSxSZPJ3jZ3g93g
Felix Gonzalez-Torres was born in Guáimaro, Cuba, in 1957. Throughout his career, Gonzalez-Torres’s involvement in social and political causes as an openly gay man fueled his interest in the overlap of private and public life. From 1987 to 1991, he was part of Group Material, a New York-based art collective whose members worked collaboratively to initiate community education and cultural activism. His aesthetic project was, according to some scholars, related to Bertolt Brecht’s theory of epic theater, in which creative expression transforms the spectator from an inert receiver to an active, reflective observer and motivates social action. Employing simple, everyday materials (stacks of paper, puzzles, candy, strings of lights, beads) and a reduced aesthetic vocabulary reminiscent of both Minimalism and Conceptual art to address themes such as love and loss, sickness and rejuvenation, gender and sexuality, Gonzalez-Torres asked viewers to participate in establishing meaning in his works.
