Felix Gonzalez -Torres at the de la Cruz Collection...

5:43 p.m.

Untitled (Portrait of Dad), by Felix Gonzalez -Torres (1991)

Materials: white mint candies. Endless supply

Ideal weight: 175 pounds / Dimensions vary with installation

Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996), Cuban artist who died 25 years ago in Miami, portrayed his dying father in Untitled (Portrait of Dad) in a very particular way: he did not use a canvas and a brush, but mint candies in just the right amount equal his father's weight.

“You put in your mouth and you suck on someone else’s body, and in this way my work becomes part of so many other people’s body….”

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

This conceptual installation is completed when the visitor takes a candy and puts it in their mouth (the candies are constantly being replenished to maintain the weight indicated by the artist). This fascinating interactive portrait, and others by Gonzalez-Torres, with the same theme, evoke memory and loss: we eat candy that is somewhat sweet but then disintegrates.

Untitled (Portrait of Dad), by Felix Gonzalez -Torres (1991)

Materials: white mint candies. Endless supply

Ideal weight: 175 pounds / Dimensions vary with installation

The term Untitled with which the artist titles the piece, although he makes a clarification later in parentheses, gives the visitor the freedom to interpret it and to activate their own perception. When we visit this work, located on the first floor of the de la Cruz Collection in Miami, the experience is without a doubt unique compared to what we are seeing and tasting.