Sunday, October 31, 2004
Bruegel, Pieter the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind
The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind, 1568
Tempera on canvas, 86 x 154 cm
Galleria Nazionale, Naples
The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind, 1568
Tempera on canvas, 86 x 154 cm
Galleria Nazionale, Naples
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Death by Gun), Begun 1990
Nine-inch stack of photolithographs, sheet: 44 15/16 x 32 15/16” (114.1 x 83.6 cm)
Purchased in part with funds from Arthur Fleischer, Jr. and Linda Barth Goldstein
The viewer’s first reaction to Untitled (Death by Gun) is one of uncertainty. Is this stack of papers on the floor meant to be walked around and viewed from different angles, like sculpture? Or did the artist intend these papers to be picked up and examined? Listed on the sheets are the names of 460 individuals killed by gunshot during the week of May 1?, 1989, cited by name, age, city, and state, with a brief description of the circumstances of their deaths, and, in most cases, a photographic image of the deceased. These images and words, appropriated from Time magazine, where they first appeared, reflect Gonzalez-Torres’s interest in gun control.
Conceptually, Death by Gun is an ongoing work of art. Viewer participation is an important element, and the public is encouraged to read the sheets and take them away to keep, display, or give to others. While Gonz?ez-Torres determined that the stack is “ideally” nine inches high, he arranged for the depleted sheets to be continually reprinted and replaced, thus insuring that Death by Gun can be distributed indefinitely. From its beginnings, printed art has been made in multiple copies for dissemination to a wide audience. Here that idea is expanded with an edition that is “endless.”
+
still has one that i picked up at 1991 Whitney Biennale