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Born in Guáimaro, Cuba, in 1957, Felix Gonzales-Torres also spent time growing up in Puerto Rico, where he attended the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. He became an American citizen in 1976 and moved to New York City in 1979, graduating from the Pratt Institute with a photography degree in 1983. He received a master’s degree from the International Center of Photography in 1987. Gonzales-Torres died in 1996 at the age of 38.

From Canvas to Candy
Usually at a museum you are not allowed to touch the works of art. However, with this work, you can both touch and eat it. As people take and eat the candy the entire work shrinks, but the candy never entirely disappears because it is periodically replenished by museum or gallery staff.

• What do you think about his decision to create art that is edible?
  
  
• What do you think about the fact that Gonzales-Torres wants viewers to take a piece of his work away with them?
   
• Does it matter that all of the pieces are replaceable? Have you ever seen art that can be produced again and again?

Sending a Message
Gonzales-Torres was interested in making art that would encourage the viewer’s to active participation. His work often deals with personal and global concerns such as AIDS, U.S. foreign policy, gun control, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Because Gonzales-Torres recognizes that his work can be interpreted in a number of different ways, his works are generally untitled, with a more specific reference in parenthesis. Untitled (Placebo), invites viewers to take and eat a piece of candy, thereby allowing them to change the shape and look of the entire work.

• What do you think about his decisions about his titles?
  
  
• Can you think of both positive and negative characteristics of candy?

Gonzales-Torres’s work has challenged traditional museums and gallery spaces by encouraging viewers to dance with one another, or eat, or take away part of the art. His work also appears in public spaces such as buses, subways, streets, and hospitals. Gonzalas-Torres said, "I need the viewer, I need the public interaction. Without a public these works are nothing, nothing. I need the public to complete the work." ¹

• Do you agree with Gonzales-Torres’s statement about the importance of the viewer? Why or why not?
  
  
• How do you think this piece communicates with the viewer?

Size It Up
Ideally, when Untitled (Placebo) is exhibited it should consist of about 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of candy. The silver cellophane–wrapped candies can be arranged in a number of ways. Here you see them spread across the floor in the shape of a rectangle. The candy is endlessly replenished so that it never disappears when viewers eat it or take away pieces.

• What would you think about the work if he used only a handful of candy on the floor?
• How might a piece of this candy look different if it were by itself instead of in a pile with other pieces?

1. Lisa G. Corrin, "Self-Questioning Monuments," in Felix Gonzalez-Torres (London: Serpentine Gallery, 2000).