Photo Olivier Zahm, Purple Diary. Felix Gonzales Torres, Untitled 1991 I have mentioned before how much I love Google reader. Apart from it being a great time wasters, it helps me keep up with the wonderfully creative happenings in Melbourne, Berlin, Dubai and New York to name a few.
One of my all time favourite artists is Felix Gonzales Torres. I love him so much that for one of the projects I had to do in art school last year I payed homage to him in the form of a table a chair. Whilst I will be the first to admit that they didn’t work out exactly as planned, actually they were quite shit, it cemented my adoration for the late artist.
Thanks to Google reader I discovered that the new High Line (one of the most amazing new concepts in urban development) in New York City is paying its own version of homage to Felix GT. One if the things he was most well know for was his billboards that were installed in various locations around New York at the height of his career in the 80s and 90s. Gonzales Torress was committed to social issues surrounding gender, politics and sexuality. Documented on the purple journal blog, one of the artists most know billboards has recently been erected behind the Standard hotel in New York City.
Untitled, 1991 appears on a building in 13th street, and anyone unfamiliar with the artist will undoubtedly be wondering what it’s an advertisement for. The image is of an unmade, recently vacated double bead with white, ruffled sheets and the overwhelming presence, or in this case absence, of two lovers.
My apparent aversion to public art (as per my critique of Valhalla) is in no way extended to this billboard. I think we need more of them. In a world where advertisements cloud our vision and find their way into our personal space, it is refreshing to see an image in the public realm which references nothing in particular but which still speaks volumes about life.
This enigmatic artists will continue to be missed!
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