The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) at New York University will host two works by the renowned contemporary artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres as part of the spring installment of its Great Hall Exhibition Series, running March 30-May 8.
Organized by Katharine J. Wright and Susanna V. Temkin, the installation pairs two works encompassing different media and conceptual practices that speak to major themes in the artist's oeuvre. The two works "Untitled" (Placebo-Landsape-for Roni), 1993, and "Untitled" (Natural History), 1990, offer points of access into overarching conceptual strategies that the artist employed throughout the course of his career.
“Untitled” (Placebo-Landscape-for Roni), one of a number of iconic works created by the artist in the 1990s, is a large-scale work consisting of candy wrapped in gold cellophane with an ideal weight of 1,200 pounds. Visitors may take a piece of candy and witness the ebb and flow of the work over the course of the exhibition, as candy is taken and potentially replenished. Intentionally open-ended in meaning, “Untitled” (Placebo-Landscape-for Roni) could be understood through the context of such themes as the political and economic policies of the American government in the 1980s and the vagaries of human life and death in the face of the AIDS crisis.
Also on view is “Untitled” (Natural History), which depicts engravings that are an element of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial at the Museum of Natural History.
The Great Hall Exhibition Series was established in 2012 by the IFA to showcase the work of contemporary artists within the Institute’s celebrated Duke Mansion building.