The billboard is a vernacular format that the Cuban-born American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996) repurposed in an effort to engage diverse audiences and expand the public function of art. “I need the public to complete the work,” he stated, “to become part of my work, to join in.” This fall, the Museum will install one of Gonzalez-Torres’s billboards in locations around the greater Princeton area, including the plaza just outside its front door. Created at the height of the AIDS crisis, it features a haunting image of an empty bed, evoking the tensions and emotions between intimacy and publicity, loss and desire.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres: "Untitled"
October 21–December 16, 2013
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled,” 1991. Billboard. Installation view of Felix Gonzalez-Torres Billboard Project. Artpace Foundation, San Antonio, TX. Jan.–Dec. 2010. © The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation/Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery/photo Tom DuBrock
Felix Gonzalez-Torres: “Untitled” has been made possible by generous support from Christopher E. Olofson, Class of 1992, and the Bagley Wright, Class of 1946, Contemporary Art Fund. Further support has been provided by the Partners and Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum.