Throughout his brief but blazing career, Cuban American artist Félix González-Torres explored themes of love, loss, identity, and the political and social dimensions of existence. Born in 1957 in Guáimaro, Cuba, González-Torres moved to Puerto Rico as a child before settling in New York City in the late 1970s. He became a prominent figure in the art world in the 1980s and 1990s, using his work to address personal and collective memories and experiences.
Félix González-Torres’s art purposefully drew from and subverted both Minimalism and post-Minimalism. His use of commonplace materials like light bulbs and electrical cords has its roots in Minimalism, the 1960s art movement that championed industrial materials with leading exponents such as Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt and Agnes Martin.
While González-Torres often positioned his work in relation to art historical forebears, he simultaneously sought to upend the strict delineations of objectivity and subjectivity imposed by certain Minimalist artists. Instead, González-Torres emphasised the notion that the very acts of looking and creating meaning were related to our personal rights and responsibilities to have a point of view.
In 1991, Félix González-Torres suspended two lightbulbs from entwined electrical cords and created “Untitled” (March 5th) #2 in honour of his partner, Ross Laycock, who had recently died from an AIDS-related illness. This work gave rise to González-Torres’ series of lightbulb installations, which are known as ‘the light string works’ and are clearly among the most iconic and affecting works of his oeuvre.
González-Torres was deeply interested in questioning our perceptions of uniqueness as well as addressing the critical and integral role of ownership. The configuration of each of these light string sculptures is entirely up to its owner or exhibitor each time the work is installed, always having the potential for change, and always in dialogue with its context. In 2024 Christie’s New York sold an example of González-Torres’s ‘light string works’, “Untitled” (America #3) (1992), for US$13,635,000 — a world record price for any work by the artist achieved at auction.
González-Torres’s other works continue his poignant reflection on the passage of time, love and mortality. Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), consists of a pile of candy weighing 175 pounds, which corresponds to Ross’s ideal body weight. Visitors are encouraged to take pieces of candy from the pile, causing it to gradually diminish over time, symbolizing Ross's physical decline and the impact of the AIDS epidemic.
Félix González-Torres died in 1996 from AIDS-related illnesses, aged 38. Despite his short career, González-Torres’s work continues to resonate with audiences today, and can be found in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Beyeler Foundation in Riehen, Switzerland and more.
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (America #3)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (L.A.)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Last Light)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Last Light)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Double Bloodworks)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (March 5th) #2
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled"
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Paris, Last Time, 1989)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled"
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Sand)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Sand)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Still Life)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (A Couple)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Sand)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled"
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (For White Columns)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Venezia)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Bloomie's)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled"
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled"
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (1992)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (1992)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Wall Street)
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (1988)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
Untitled (Parkett 39)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996)
"Untitled"
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
No title
FÉLIX GONZÁLEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
Untitled, 1994
FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957-1996)
"Untitled" (Oscar Wilde)
FELIX GONZALES-TORRES (1957-1996)
Untitled (Oscar Wilde) (Elger 273)