14 August 2017 @ 11:18 pm
Time
Felix Gonzalez-Torres made Untitled (Perfect Lovers) at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in America. He had lost his boyfriend of eight years (Ross Laycock) to AIDS-related illness the same year he made this work. While Untitled (Perfect Lovers) grew out of his own experience of love, partnership, and loss, it is universal. Simple in its construction, it consists of two clocks hung side-by-side and touching on a pale blue wall. Gradually, the clocks go out of sync. This subtle, elegant presentation may be read as a metaphor for the progress of the life of a couple and the consequences of time, which can introduce disharmony, illness, and the decay of perfection into that life. “We…have to trust the viewer and trust the power of the object,” Gonzalez-Torres once said about his choice of imagery. “And the power is in simple things….It keeps thought from being opaque.”
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