The works of Felix Gonzalez-Torres are unsettling in a number of ways: first, because you are encouraged to take a piece of the art on display (in these cases, at Art Institute of Chicago). It’s not common to touch, even less to take away artwork from a museum. Second, because the pile diminishes as you take from it – so that it might be depleted by the end of the day. This is supposed to mirror to the ravaging effects of AIDS on the body – at least at the time these pieces were conceived. On the other hand, the owner of the artworks is held responsible for replenishing them daily. So, while artists are generally the ones getting ripped off by dealers and collectors, the most comforting aspect of these pieces is that the artist seems to have gotten something out of this – a sort of ‘life support’ for his art, and the memory of his life.
