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"Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)

A sizable pile of hard candies in blue, red, and yellow wrappers piled up against a white wall and resting on a light-colored wood floor.
© The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation.

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  • A sizable pile of hard candies in blue, red, and yellow wrappers piled up against a white wall and resting on a light-colored wood floor.

Date:

1991

Artist:

Felix Gonzalez-Torres
American, born Cuba, 1957–1996

About this artwork

Felix Gonzalez-Torres produced meaningful and restrained sculptural forms out of common materials. “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) consists of an ideal weight of 175 pounds of shiny, commercially distributed candy. The work’s physical form and scale change with each display, affected by its placement in the gallery as well as audience interactions. Regardless of its physical shape, the label lists its ideal weight, likely corresponding to the average body weight of an adult male, or perhaps the ideal weight of the subject referred to in the title, Ross Laycock, the artist’s partner who died of complications from AIDS in 1991, as did Gonzalez-Torres in 1996. As visitors take candy, the configuration changes, linking the participatory action with loss—even though the work holds the potential for endless replenishment.

Status

On View, Gallery 294

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Title

"Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1991

Medium

Candies in variously colored wrappers, endless supply

Dimensions

Dimensions vary with installation; ideal weight 175 lbs.

Credit Line

Gift of Donna and Howard Stone

Reference Number

2022.343

Copyright

© The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation.

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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