Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Art That Speaks Beyond Words
There are things for which the right words will never be found. Words freeze on the tongue, powerless to convey the feelings of loss and emptiness. What if there is a desire to share the fear of impermanence before the hands of your earthly clock stops forever?
The famous artist of the 80s and 90s, Felix Gonzalez-Torres invented a new language for us, the language of the unsaid.
Against the backdrop of technological breakthroughs and the spread of virtual communications, Gonzalez-Torres builds abstract, minimalist installations aimed at engaging in dialogue with the viewer, making their reactions a part of his work. Crafted from everyday materials, his pieces speak of simple human bonds, love, and mortality.
Despite the artist’s short life, Gonzalez’s legacy occupies a prominent position in Relational aesthetics and continues to be a reservoir for people’s senses. In this article, you will learn about the distinctiveness of the artist's style and the contribution of his work to the global art world.
The famous artist of the 80s and 90s, Felix Gonzalez-Torres invented a new language for us, the language of the unsaid.
Against the backdrop of technological breakthroughs and the spread of virtual communications, Gonzalez-Torres builds abstract, minimalist installations aimed at engaging in dialogue with the viewer, making their reactions a part of his work. Crafted from everyday materials, his pieces speak of simple human bonds, love, and mortality.
Despite the artist’s short life, Gonzalez’s legacy occupies a prominent position in Relational aesthetics and continues to be a reservoir for people’s senses. In this article, you will learn about the distinctiveness of the artist's style and the contribution of his work to the global art world.
felix gonzales
Daryna Markova
contributor DOM Art Residence
Mar 23, 2025
Who Was Felix Gonzalez-Torres?
Grasping the creativity and uniqueness of Felix Gonzalez-Torres is infeasible without awareness of his personal history and identity. An openly gay man who lost his lover, Ross Laycock, to AIDS, Gonzalez made the memory of him the foundation of his work.
Gonzalez's work requires the viewer's participation, perception, and feelings. Without them, the works become empty signs, devoid of meaning. He blurs the boundaries between his sculptures, the artist's identity, and the audience.
Viewers can emotionally and physically interact with his works by taking objects from the installations home. He shares a personal story as well as provides a space for the viewer's experience. This is why he avoids titles that carry a sense of finality and clarity, preferring to use bracketed titles to define his work.
Gonzalez's work requires the viewer's participation, perception, and feelings. Without them, the works become empty signs, devoid of meaning. He blurs the boundaries between his sculptures, the artist's identity, and the audience.
Viewers can emotionally and physically interact with his works by taking objects from the installations home. He shares a personal story as well as provides a space for the viewer's experience. This is why he avoids titles that carry a sense of finality and clarity, preferring to use bracketed titles to define his work.
His Path: From Cuba to the World of Art
The short road of Felix Gonzalez-Torres from a Cuban boy to a renowned American visual artist spanned three continents. Here are the main life stages of Gonzalez-Torres:
Although Gonzalez was of Cuban descent, he considered himself an American. It was in New York that his development as an artist began. His creative style was shaped in an atmosphere of vibrant discussions and the search for new cultural forms and approaches.
At that time, artists were trying to expand the aesthetic boundaries of minimalism, turning to postmodernism and neo-expressionism in painting and photography.
At that time, artists were trying to expand the aesthetic boundaries of minimalism, turning to postmodernism and neo-expressionism in painting and photography.
Finding His Voice in Art
He believed that to truly grasp a life event, it must be experienced on a daily, tangible level through physical objects, rather than through abstract ideological postulates.
His first artwork was a poster for a billboard, dedicated to a subject close to the artist’s heart — the 20th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. At that time, the persecuted gay community made its first organized resistance against the police.
The latter's ideas on the power dynamics of language resonated with Gonzalez-Torres, who considered words a trap. In Gonzalez-Torres's works, researchers also detect the influences of Bertolt Brecht. Gonzalez-Torres's perception of creativity, in which the spectator is transformed into an active, thinking participant, shows a clear influence of Brecht's theory of epic theater, with whom Gonzalez-Torres also identified as one of his teachers.
His first artwork was a poster for a billboard, dedicated to a subject close to the artist’s heart — the 20th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. At that time, the persecuted gay community made its first organized resistance against the police.
The latter's ideas on the power dynamics of language resonated with Gonzalez-Torres, who considered words a trap. In Gonzalez-Torres's works, researchers also detect the influences of Bertolt Brecht. Gonzalez-Torres's perception of creativity, in which the spectator is transformed into an active, thinking participant, shows a clear influence of Brecht's theory of epic theater, with whom Gonzalez-Torres also identified as one of his teachers.
His Most Famous Works
Gonzalez-Torres's works take various intriguing forms: they can be strings of brief words and dates dedicated to political and social events, famous historical figures; light strings, stacks of posters, household objects, or others:
His installations were, in one way or another, expressions of his personal history of love, illness, loss, and concerns of sexuality. By allowing viewers to take parts of his works with them and letting them gradually disappear, Gonzalez-Torres reminded us of the fragility of human existence.
- "Untitled" (Death by Gun) (1990) is a stack of posters featuring images from Time magazine of 460 individuals, along with their names, ages, and the circumstances of their deaths. What unites them is the cause of death — they were killed by gunshots in the United States over a single week.
- "Untitled" (Go-Go Dancing Platform) (1991) is a white box, surrounded by incandescent bulbs. It becomes a stage only when a go-go dancer performs on it.
- "Untitled" (Petit Palais) (1992) — a glowing spot on the floor, formed by two light strings. Gonzalez created 24 similar works with varying numbers of bulbs and strings.
His installations were, in one way or another, expressions of his personal history of love, illness, loss, and concerns of sexuality. By allowing viewers to take parts of his works with them and letting them gradually disappear, Gonzalez-Torres reminded us of the fragility of human existence.
Perfect Lovers (1991)
Two synchronously moving wall clocks function as typical elements that people commonly see in household interiors. However, at the same time, this simple, unembellished installation leaves ample space for interpretation, inviting viewers to fill it with their meanings. The perception of the work changes when the viewer learns the conditions under which it was created.
At that time, Gonzalez's partner was already close to death, and the clocks — symbols of a gay romantic union — would forever break apart as soon as they stopped showing at the same time.
Gonzalez-Torres said that time frightened him: "This work with two clocks was the scariest thing I ever did. I wanted to confront it. I wanted those two clocks to be right in front of me, ticking."
By considering the objects through the lens of personal experience, the viewer comes to an awareness of the abstraction of the concept of love and the death that will destroy it.
For each of his works, the artist wrote separate instructions, expanding the boundaries of his pieces. According to his wishes, the clocks should have identical sizes, and designs, and touch each other. If one of them breaks, it must be replaced with another, making the work about finitude endless.
At that time, Gonzalez's partner was already close to death, and the clocks — symbols of a gay romantic union — would forever break apart as soon as they stopped showing at the same time.
Gonzalez-Torres said that time frightened him: "This work with two clocks was the scariest thing I ever did. I wanted to confront it. I wanted those two clocks to be right in front of me, ticking."
By considering the objects through the lens of personal experience, the viewer comes to an awareness of the abstraction of the concept of love and the death that will destroy it.
For each of his works, the artist wrote separate instructions, expanding the boundaries of his pieces. According to his wishes, the clocks should have identical sizes, and designs, and touch each other. If one of them breaks, it must be replaced with another, making the work about finitude endless.
Portrait of Ross in L.A. (1990)
A pile of lollipops wrapped in colorful cellophane sparkles enticingly. Visitors and artists to the gallery are allowed to take the candies, and they don’t realize that, unknowingly, they are becoming participants in an event that has its own assigned role.
This installation is a coded portrait of Ross, with its weight identical to that of Gonzalez’s lover (175 lbs.) before he contracted HIV.
Captivated by the opportunity to eat an exhibit that seems incompatible with the strictness of a museum, the visitors unwittingly become complicit in the process. Like an infection, this process gradually consumes the life of the young man.
The story embedded in this work can be interpreted as society's indifference and rejection of gay people. Society viewed AIDS as a disease exclusive to homosexuals and therefore failed to pay adequate attention to its treatment.
This installation is a coded portrait of Ross, with its weight identical to that of Gonzalez’s lover (175 lbs.) before he contracted HIV.
Captivated by the opportunity to eat an exhibit that seems incompatible with the strictness of a museum, the visitors unwittingly become complicit in the process. Like an infection, this process gradually consumes the life of the young man.
The story embedded in this work can be interpreted as society's indifference and rejection of gay people. Society viewed AIDS as a disease exclusive to homosexuals and therefore failed to pay adequate attention to its treatment.
The Unity of All
Despite not finding definitive recognition during his lifetime, Felix Gonzalez-Torres found it after death. His works resonate in the visuals of a new generation of artists such as Alex Da Corte, Tino Sehgal, and Rikrit Tiravanija, and in the performances of Doris Salcedo and Santiago Sierra, all of which address complications of society and politics.
Gonzales' installations wonderfully intertwine the abstract and the physically tangible, poetry and politics, attachment to the beloved and his disappearance. It seems that the artist carefully sews the world with thin, imperceptible threads, demonstrating the interconnectedness of everything.
He makes the viewers feel this connection, allowing them to interact with the art. Conveying a sense of decay, his works remain timeless, still arousing interest among connoisseurs of minimalist art.
Gonzales' installations wonderfully intertwine the abstract and the physically tangible, poetry and politics, attachment to the beloved and his disappearance. It seems that the artist carefully sews the world with thin, imperceptible threads, demonstrating the interconnectedness of everything.
He makes the viewers feel this connection, allowing them to interact with the art. Conveying a sense of decay, his works remain timeless, still arousing interest among connoisseurs of minimalist art.