"Untitled" (Perfect Lovers)

Artworks created by Félix González-Torres yes "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers), Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Glenstone (cropped).jpg "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990) at Glenstone in 2023. The second hands have become out of sync. "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) Félix González-Torres 1987-1990 Wall clocks Original clocks: 13 1/2 in. diameter each (34.29 cm) Dallas Museum of Art; Glenstone; Wadsworth Atheneum no "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers), GF1991-007, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, MoMA.png "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1991) at the Museum of Modern Art in 2022 "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) Félix González-Torres 1991 Wall clocks and paint on wall Original clocks: 14 in. diameter each (35.56 cm) New York Museum of Modern Art no "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) is the title of two different artworks created by Félix González-Torres. Each of the artworks consists of two identical wall clocks hung side-by-side so that they are touching. When installed the clocks are initially set to the same time but may fall out of sync over the course of an exhibition. "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990) consists of two wall clocks with black rims; this work is an edition of three, plus one artist's proof. A separate, unique work, "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1991), similarly consists of two identical wall clocks but with white rims instead of black, and includes the option of painting the wall on which the clocks are hung light blue."Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) https://5058.sydneyplus.com/argus/final/Portal/Public.aspx?lang=en-US&g_AABJ=felix&d=d Wadsworth Wadsworth Atheneum 16 November 2022Untitled (Perfect Lovers) https://dma.org/art/collection/object/5324909 live https://web.archive.org/web/20230604232002/https://dma.org/art/collection/object/5324909 June 4, 2023 June 4, 2023 Dallas Museum of Art One of González-Torres' most famous works, it has appeared in over 75 exhibitions and has inspired multiple homages. When included in exhibitions and similar establishments it must adhere to specific parameters specified by González-Torres such as the clocks having to be the same type/dimensions. Description and installation parameters González-Torres specified installations parameters for "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers). The work consists of two identical commercial wall clocks displayed side-by-side so that they are touching, ideally installed above head height where a wall clock would typically hang on the wall.Guide to Re-Creating "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres http://www.temporaryservices.org/Perfect_Lovers.pdf live https://web.archive.org/web/20181006155616/http://www.temporaryservices.org/Perfect_Lovers.pdf October 6, 2018 July 18, 2020 Temporary ServicesMartinez Jamie 2017-06-20 Art Exhibits, Art Magazine, Contemporary Art, Art Blogs, Art Artists https://artefuse.com/2017/06/20/felix-gonzalez-torres-at-david-zwirner-125094/ 2020-07-18 Arte Fuse en-US 2020-07-18 https://web.archive.org/web/20200718051707/https://artefuse.com/2017/06/20/felix-gonzalez-torres-at-david-zwirner-125094/ dead The original clocks measure 13 1/2 in. each in diameter. The clocks must be of exactly the same dimensions and design/type. The clocks must be set to the same time initially though they may fall out of sync over the course of an exhibition. If one or both of the clocks stops functioning, the clocks are deinstalled and repaired, then reinstalled and reset to the same time, allowing the piece to theoretically last forever.Gonzalez-Torres Artworks & Famous Paintings https://www.theartstory.org/artist/gonzalez-torres-felix/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20200713051027/https://www.theartstory.org/artist/gonzalez-torres-felix/ 2020-07-13 2020-07-17 The Art Story2019-12-03 The meaning of Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Clocks / Perfect Lovers https://publicdelivery.org/felix-gonzalez-torres-clocks/ 2020-07-18 Public Delivery en-US Matthew Isherwood said that "like all of Torres's work, "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) uses materials that could be considered everyday or mundane to extend and explore queer personal desire".Isherwood Matthew 2020-07-02 Toward a Queer Aesthetic Sensibility: Orientation, Disposition, and Desire https://doi.org/10.1080/00393541.2020.1778437 Studies in Art Education 61 3 230–239 10.1080/00393541.2020.1778437 221790098 0039-3541 subscription Several of González-Torres' artworks including "Untitled" (Double Portrait), a paper stack work printed with two side-by-side gold rings, "Untitled" (March 5) #1 (1991), a work consisting of two round mirrors installed side-by-side, and "Untitled" (Sagitario), 1994-1995, two side-by-side circular pools of water, incorporate a visual motif of paired circles similar to "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers).Ho Christopher 2001 Within and beyond: Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Crowd" https://www.jstor.org/stable/3246486 PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 23 1 1–17 10.2307/3246486 3246486 192115358 1520-281X 2023-04-18 2020-12-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20230418185751/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3246486 live subscription Three of the four editions of "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990) are owned by public collections: the Dallas Museum of Art; Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland;Felix Gonzalez-Torres https://www.glenstone.org/artist/felix-gonzalez-torres/ Glenstone 26 November 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220420014632/https://www.glenstone.org/artist/felix-gonzalez-torres/ 20 April 2022 live and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.Wadsworth Atheneum Collection https://5058.sydneyplus.com/argus/final/Portal/Public.aspx?lang=en-US&g_AABJ=Felix+Gonzalez-Torres&d=d Wadsworth Wadsworth Atheneum 26 November 2022 The fourth is in a private collection. Following Laycock's death in 1991, the artist created a nearly identical work by the same name.Edwards 2020 167 "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1991) similarly consists of two identical wall clocks but also includes light blue paint, which the exhibitor can choose to use to paint the wall of the installation location. The later work is owned by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and was formally considered by the artist to be a separate work of art from "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990)."Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074? MoMA Museum of Modern Art 26 November 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220703100316/https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81074 3 July 2022 live Various interpretations With "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) González-Torres wanted the audience to infer their own meaning. Margarita Vega, noted that "What differentiates "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) from regular clocks is nothing physical, but rather the assignment of function that will be reflected on some kind of status indicators".Vega Margarita 2016-06-01 Once Again, What Counts as Art? https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-016-9696-9 Philosophia en 44 2 633–644 10.1007/s11406-016-9696-9 170327161 1574-9274 subscription Art critic Robert Storr expanded on this, writing: The meaning of the image hinges on the projected fantasy of the person who stands below and looks up at an enlargement of the most eroticized zone of their everyday lives, the psychological site of their greatest longing, insecurity and discomfort, the nearly neutral screen on which memories or expectations of happiness, frustration, or deprivation can be played in the mind's eye.Wojton 2010 39 thumb|left|The piece has been described as a vanitas and memento mori. Pictured: Philippe de Champagne's Still-Life with a Skull, an example of a vanitas painting. An ambiguous work of art, many have interpreted the works to be a commentary on González-Torres' partner's struggle with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and death at large.August 16, 2016 25 Artworks: 1991–95 en Frieze 181 https://frieze.com/article/25-artworks-1991-95 2020-07-18 0962-0672 In 1987, González-Torres' partner Ross Laycock was diagnosed with AIDS.Edwards 2020 166Laycock was likely feeling the effects of HIV before his diagnosis. In a letter sent to Laycock in 1988, he showed a rough sketch of the piece, entitled merely Lovers.2019-12-03 The meaning of Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Clocks / Perfect Lovers https://publicdelivery.org/felix-gonzalez-torres-clocks/ 2020-07-18 Public Delivery en-US In the letter, González-Torres ruminates about time, writing: Dont be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, the time has been so generous to us. We imprinted time with the sweet taste of victory. We conquered fate by meeting at a certain TIME in a certain space. We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit were it is due: time. We are synchronized, now and forever. I love you. The piece can be interpreted as a protest against the censorship of "gay art", knowing that it would be difficult for critics to show that "money is being expended for the promotion of homosexual art", with a work of art so simplistic and abstract in nature. According to Shawn Diamond, the piece was created to "memorialize the love he shared", with Laycock.Diamond Shawn 2016 Requiem for the shadows: Poetry, spirituality, and future memory in the light strings of Felix Gonzalez-Torres https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=kent1461781004&disposition=inline July 18, 2020 October 28, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171028043251/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=kent1461781004&disposition=inline dead González-Torres said on the piece: Time is something that scares me … or used to. This piece made with the two clocks was the scariest thing I have ever done. I wanted to face it. I wanted those two clocks right in front of me, ticking. Public Delivery stated that the two clocks represent "two mechanical heartbeats", commenting on "personal loss as well as the temporal nature of life". Museum curator Jasper Sharp believed the piece to be a memento mori which represents the short-lived nature of life.Museum Wien Kunsthistorisches March 6, 2018 Jasper Sharp on Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Lombardo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4EEygQ2O9Q July 18, 2020 YouTube Catherine Ruello shared similar sentiments, saying that it "involves the themes of 'vanitas'."The Presence of Absence https://visualaids.org/gallery/the-presence-of-absence live https://web.archive.org/web/20230531082523/https://visualaids.org/gallery/the-presence-of-absence May 31, 2023 June 4, 2023 Visual AIDS Director of the Art Institute of Chicago James E. Rondeau noted that it was start of González-Torres' "examination of coupling and mortality".Rondeau James E. 1999 Untitled (Last Light), 1993 by Felix Gonzalez-Torres https://www.jstor.org/stable/4113009 Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 25 1 84–100 10.2307/4113009 4113009 0069-3235 subscription Adair Rounthwaite noted that González-Torres' use of a clock, an item which only matters to the living, is a "visual metaphor for the crossover between that time and the nontime of the dead".Rounthwaite Adair 2010 Split Witness: Metaphorical Extensions of Life in the Art of Felix Gonzalez-Torres http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rep.2010.109.1.35 Representations 109 1 35–56 10.1525/rep.2010.109.1.35 10.1525/rep.2010.109.1.35 0734-6018 subscription Rounthwaite also stated that the time measured represents life itself and that the piece was a response to the trauma of AIDS. Margaret Anne Wojton, said that "The two clicking clocks represented Gonzalez-Torres's vantage point of his anguish as caregiver and survivor."Wojton 2010 40 She also viewed the piece as an "existential metaphor", for González-Torres' death anxiety.Wojton 2010 39 Rondeau felt that the stipulation that they're identical was a reference to same-sex couples. Suzanne Perling Hudson said that although "the piece is clearly "about" González-Torres and his partner, it is also about any lovers, be they homosexual or heterosexual, and the reality of impermanence and the threat and fear of imminent loss.Hudson Suzanne Perling 2003-04-01 Beauty and the Status of Contemporary Criticism https://doi.org/10.1162/016228703322031730 October 104 115–130 10.1162/016228703322031730 57567634 0162-2870 subscription Shawn Diamond believed that the piece "depicted two figures always in proximity but unable to unite and become a single body". Kevin Busit echoed similar sentiments, "They'll never be one... The fabric of their being ensures that eventually they'll end up in conflict."Buist Kevin February 1, 2011 Art, Design, and Clocks https://magazine.art21.org/2011/02/01/art-design-and-clocks/ 2020-07-19 Art21 Magazine en-US Isherwood felt that because the clocks could be reset, there was a sense of hope and optimism in the work. He also noted that "by connoting his queer identity, rather than "evoking it", González-Torres allows "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) to become both intimately personal and widely social". Helen Molesworth, chief curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, viewed it as a metaphor for the relationship between art historian and art itself.Pollack Barbara February 13, 2013 Love Potions: Art and the Heart http://pavelzoubok.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LH-ArtNews-February2013.pdf ARTnews Exhibitions thumb|The Renaissance Society in Chicago where the work was displayed in 1994. "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) first exhibition was at Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York, from October 20 to November 20, 1990."Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) - Works - Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation https://www.felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org/works/untitled-perfect-lovers 2020-07-18 The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation 2022-06-27 https://web.archive.org/web/20220627052633/https://www.felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org/works/untitled-perfect-lovers live It was later included in González-Torres' 1994 exhibition, "Traveling," at The Renaissance Society in Chicago. This version was made specifically for the exhibition and was neither dated or signed. As of November 30, 2019 the piece has appeared in 75 exhibitions. Legacy According to Public Delivery, "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) is one of González-Torres' most famous works. In 2002, Tobias Wong produced Perfect Lovers (Forever). Identical in all but one aspect, that being Wong's clocks are synchronized with the U.S. Atomic Clock, ensuring they both stay accurate to within one second over a period of a million years. In 2008, Welsh artist Cerith Wyn Evans created a remake entitled "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers + 1). The only difference between +1 and the original is the addition of one clock.Untitled (Perfect Lovers + 1) – Kadist https://kadist.org/work/untitled-perfect-lovers-1/ 2020-07-18 Kadist en-CA In 2016, Frieze chose the piece as a "key artwork" from 1991 to 2016. In 2024, a group of museum workers at Glenstone - which owns an edition of "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers), on display at the time - created and wore buttons featuring clocks inspired by the artwork in support of a staff unionization campaign that was eventually successful.Capps Kriston Glenstone museum workers vote on unionizing as founders push back https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2024/06/06/glenstone-museum-union-vote/ 8 June 2024 The Washington Post 6 June 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240607000811/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2024/06/06/glenstone-museum-union-vote/ 7 June 2024 live limitedCapps Kriston Glenstone museum workers form union after contentious campaign https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2024/06/07/glenstone-museum-union/ 8 June 2024 The Washington Post 7 June 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240608030012/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2024/06/07/glenstone-museum-union/ 8 June 2024 live limited References Wojton Margaret Anne Love and Loss: The Works of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, The Aids Epidemic and Postmodern Art https://books.google.com/books?id=XHD8nQAACAAJ Masters Kent 2010 Edwards Mary D. https://books.google.com/books?id=TgnoDwAAQBAJ Doppelgangers, Alter Egos and Mirror Images in Western Art, 1840-2010: Critical Essays 2020-06-01 McFarland 978-1-4766-6929-8 en Notes Category:Found object Category:Conceptual art Category:1991 works Category:LGBTQ art in the United States Category:Clocks in the United States Category:Works by Félix González-Torres Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title