One of the things that’s really cool about Contemporary Art is getting to see the same artwork in multiple places. Felix Gonzalez-Torres created a work titled "Untitled" (Portrait of Dad) in 1991. It’s made of white mint candies in clear wrappers, in an endless supply. The ideal weight is 175 pounds. The overall dimensions vary with installation so when we showed it at the Orange County Museum of Art in March 2024, it was a long rectangle and when I encountered it later that same year at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC it was a conical pile on the floor that was lit from above. When I saw the same work in Paris two weeks ago at the Bourse de Commerce it looked like a big field of white. It’s a nontraditional portrait. Of course it doesn’t look like his father, yet it is a representation of his weight. And, everywhere it’s shown, you are invited to take a single candy away with you, thereby remembering the paternal sweetness.
