Modern art for haters
‘Art used to be beautiful’ ‘Modern art is ugly and low effort’ ‘I shouldn’t have to know the context to appreciate art, it should just be enjoyable’ These are valid points, and you are entitled to your own likes and preferences. Honestly I used to think like this, but I have found it’s quite rewarding to understand these sometimes deep pieces, that’s why I am asking you to give a chance to one of my favourite modern artists and his beautiful work: Félix Gonzalez-Torres, one of the few artists that has moved me to tears with his work.
I won’t get into his biography too much because to be honest you don’t need to know much to see the beauty of his work, he was a Puerto Rican cultural activist that lived in New York in the 80s and 90s, where he created most of his pieces.
I would like to talk about 2 of them
1. Perfect lovers
Unimpressive to look at, right? Just two Ikea clocks stuck together with superglue, you could
walk past it without reading the title and realising how perfect the comparison is.
Two lovers, pulled together by destiny, coincidence or just luck, they spend their time ticking away,
all the ticks and dings chosen to be spent next to each other, because in real life there is no superglue
for the lovers, they spend their time together because they want to. But clocks are flawed, just like
human nature, they fall out of sync or they die, just like lovers can.
This becomes more relevant when you get to know a bit of the context of the piece: made in 1991,
only a few years after Felix’s partner, Ross Laycock was diagnosed with AIDS. With this he searched to confront the limited time they had, as well as daring to imagine a perfect future, in which the clocks would continue peacefully ticking together forever.
He also sent this piece to his love with a note: “Don’t be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, the time has been 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 where it is due: time, we are synchronised, now and forever. I love you”
Every single time I read the note my heart breaks a little, the way the words express such pure love drowned by a melancholy, so bittersweet like Felix is trying to smile through the tears of his doomed love.
Every time one of the clocks breaks or gets out of sync in the exposition they are repaired, because they are perfect lovers, and as so, those little metaphors will live on.
2. Portrait of Ross in LA
If you thought the last artwork was sad, I have never seen a more tragically beautiful pile of sugar.
Again, the looks are not quite impressive, it’s a pile of candy, what candy? Doesn’t really matter,
this art installation is in a couple of different museums and the candy is a bit different in each place.
Next to it there is a sign that asks you to take some candy: take it home, eat it, whatever! It 's yours to take!
As you might recall, Ross is Felix’s partner, who at the time was dying of AIDS. Felix envisioned his
partner as someone sweet, pure, innocent, colorful even, that with every passing day got consumed by
his illness.
And he felt helpless.
Now, knowing this I don’t think I could take a piece of candy, taking a part of the artist’s lover, who he cared for oh so deeply.
But many people don’t know this context, they walk in, take a piece and move on, because the sign asking you to take a piece is usually more noticeable than the sign explaining the meaning. And you stand there watching, feeling maybe a shred of the pain this represents. The pile wastes away, and not many people care.
Little by little, Ross disappears, taken by people who don’t really know what the candy means, just like illnesses don’t know they are taking away someone that’s deeply loved.
This makes modern art haters, part of the modern art, and the art needs them to maintain its symbolism.
Seeing this piece will always make me tear up. It doesn't matter if you cannot apply this to a romantic partner, imagine someone you love wasting away, you can’t do anything to help, and no one cares about it.
