Félix González-Torres

Life and work

His partner Ross died of AIDS in 1991, and González-Torres eventually also lost his life to the illness.^[2] González-Torres once said that Ross was the primary audience for his art.^[2] The artwork “Perfect Lovers” consists of two identical clocks that are set to display two exact and same times.^[2] González-Torres himself referred to time as “something that scares me” and called the artwork “the scariest thing I have ever done”.^[2]

Photography was the medium in which González-Torres received his formal training, and his artistic output frequently integrates photographic elements in diverse manners.^[3] His renown stems from pieces that employ ordinary objects to create installations that provoke significant audience engagement.^[3] “The only thing permanent is change,” González-Torres asserted, thereby perpetually interrogating the permanence of the art object.^[3] His identity as a gay man was openly acknowledged, and his artwork often delved into subjects connected to his sexual identity and societal prejudice.^[4]

A minimalist aesthetic characterizes his method, with artworks frequently constructed from ordinary items like light bulb strands, synchronized wall clocks, paper piles, and wrapped sweets.^[4]

What the cited sources add

The same article notes that González-Torres gave permission for numerous reproductions of the artwork “Perfect Lovers”.^[2] In a 1988 letter to Ross, González-Torres included a sketch of two clocks and the message “Don’t be afraid of the clocks, they are our time,” as noted in a 2021 article.^[2]