It was a cold winter day and I had made a gallery date with a
friend to get some inspiration for a screenplay. He, being a visual
artist, was far more knowledgeable in these things so I let him
choose where we would go. We met in Chelsea and embraced the new
Chelsea art scene. We went from gallery to gallery at a breakneck
speed. My brand new New Balance sneakers hadn't been broken in
yet and all I kept thinking was how much art can I look at and
when can I get an omelet and a cup of coffee. Things were sort
of inspiring but gallery trips can be like shopping; you look
at look but never find your size. It was at the moment that I
came upon Felix Gonzalez-Torres.
His
photograph, "Untitled 1995" was housed at The Andrea
Rosen Gallery. It was the only piece of art there in an exhibition
that ran from December 2 - January 13th. It was a billboard of
a black and white photograph of a bird flying into a gray horizon.
It was simple. So simple that it almost seemed like it was about
nothing. I could not stop staring at it. The photograph itself
was inspiring but the project behind it blew me away. It was part
of a series of 24 billboards placed throughout the city for the
month of December. They were in neighborhoods ranging from Crown
Heights to the South Bronx. (There was even one three blocks away
from me in Brooklyn.) Instead of the typical malt liquor/cigarette
ad that frequents billboards in these neighborhoods, there was
this abstract image of serenity and freedom, ideals that I am
imposing upon it, I know, but still an image that can be interpreted
in the public eye. Being a man of color, growing up in New York
City, Felix must have been aware of the significance of placing
these photographs in the neighborhoods that he did. >Being
an artist of color myself, I could not help but be excited to
see another artist making it, putting his vision out there. I
became obsessed with him and now I want to tell the world about
this exceptional artist that had been around for a while and I
am really the last to know. >Felix Gonzalez-Torres' first billboard
project was in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall
Rebellion. It was a photograph of an empty but previously occupied
bed. It was seen in twenty-four locations around New York City
in 1992. The bed was his own and it represented a memory of a
time shared by him with his best friend Ross who died in 1991.
> He was born in Cuba and raised in New York. He was doubly
marginalized, a Cuban, gay man in America. He died in 1996 at
age 35. He was many things, a photographer, a sculptor, a scorn
lover and his art reflected this. He even liked candy. At one
installation, candy was spread all over the floor of a gallery
and visitors could take pieces and eat them. His work has been
shown EVERYWHERE from the Guggenheim to the Serpentine Gallery
in London to the Museum of Modern Art where his works are currently
in view through the end of February. > "You have to take
things at a Gonzalez-Torres installation," my friend said.
"It's how he wanted it." I took a postcard and look
at it often. Initially, I was sad that I had come to him so late,
sad that he had so much work to share and I had missed it. Somehow
though I know that his art will continue to pop up again in the
least expected places. So, go see his work at the MOMA or catch
him again at the Andrea Rosen Gallery and remember to take something.
