An exhibition project by the Sammlung Goetz in public space
September 2020
September 8–September 17, 2020
The black-and-white photograph "Untitled", (1992) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, in which a figure’s ghostly shadow is captured on a billowing curtain, is part of the artist’s billboard series. The work requires the owner to produce the image as a public poster. Regardless of how often it is printed, it is always unique. In the context of Munich’s Various Others project, the Sammlung Goetz presented "Untitled", (1992) on five billboards around the city and in front of its own exhibition building in Munich.
In his work, Felix Gonzalez-Torres explored death and transience in a poetic manner and used art as a way to process his own personal experiences, including the loss of his life partner to AIDS and the death of his own father. Gonzalez-Torres himself contracted HIV and died at the age of 38.
The reciprocal permeation of the private and public realms is characteristic of the artist’s work. This approach is evident above all in his poster campaigns in urban spaces, a series he began in 1991, the year his partner died of AIDS; in tribute, Gonzalez-Torres presented a photograph of the couple’s unmade bed on twenty-four giant billboards throughout New York City.