Rockbund Art Museum 上海外滩美术馆

The Rockbund Art Museum is honored to present the first solo exhibition of the influential international artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) in Greater China. From September 30th to December 25th, 2016, RAM will host a exciting exhibition of work by the American artist, who is renowned for his unconventional methodology and poignant sensitivity. The unique nature of his work takes this exhibition beyond a retrospective; it constitutes a genuine renewal of his art.

Selected from 30 institutions and collections across the world, the exhibition includes over 40 pieces, spanning from 1987 to 1995, allows audiences to contemplate a broad and meaningful selection of the artist’s works. The tension between the public and private, the shared and the personal, comprises a recurrent theme for Gonzalez-Torres. Many of the artist’s works consist of everyday objects, such as strings of lightbulbs, mirrors, wall clocks or printed sheets of paper. Other works are comprised of spills of candy and jigsaw puzzles. His artwork itself is like a puzzle, but lacking a univocal order. Its demure minimal aesthetic solicits the audience to put the pieces together for themselves, inviting a plurality of pictures to emerge.

There is a vibrancy to his work. One of the more unusual senses to be engaged is that of taste. In the corner of the exhibition space on the 2nd floor, the viewer will find one of the most recognizable works of Gonzalez-Torres’, “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), which is an extremely sensitive and delicate way of portraying someone through an intimate gesture of connecting one’s body to another.

Other works tend toward the more visually arresting. For instance, “Untitled” (Go-Go Dancing Platform) consists of a simple blue platform lined with light bulbs. Once a day, for only a few minutes, a Go-Go dancer in silver shorts dances on the platform to the music that is audible only to himself. Another work “Untitled” (Arena) consists of a string of lights hung from the ceiling. Headphones are set nearby allowing the viewers to waltz in the sparkling festive enclosure. Other works, suggest a more muted tone, such as the piece “Untitled” (Loverboy), which consists of sheer blue curtains hanging over the museum’s second floor windows, transforming the space into a romantic and personal atmosphere..

It is well known that Gonzalez-Torres produced his work in the 80's and 90's in an American society and art community profoundly affected by the AIDS epidemic. However, it would be a mistake to engage with his work as simply dealing with homosexual issues or the AIDS crisis. These issues represent that circumstances under which the works were made, and can be understood as platforms for exploring human values, relationships and aspirations at large, both in the artist and in the viewer. In fact, one of the most intriguing aspects of this exhibition is the dramatic shift in the historical and cultural context of the artworks as they are exhibited in Shanghai. Much of Gonzalez-Torres’ work allows the environment to shape its aesthetic. By staging the exhibition in contemporary China, it will open up the artist’s work to a new context, as a 21st century Chinese public confronts its message for the first time. Audiences in China may readily recognize a postmodern diagnostic in the artworks on show. It is certainly a presentation relevant to an age of information, where social media and the internet tend to fragment personal identities and abrogate local bonds.

20 years since his passing, RAM is able to present the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres afresh, moving beyond the labels that once constrained its definition. Its uniquely interactive nature entails that meaning is not only discovered, but also contributed by its audience. This reciprocity is what makes Gonzalez-Torres both an artist of the polity, and in the end altogether intimate. Quirky and opaque, sharp and humorous: the pieces presented in this forthcoming exhibition will incite introspection just as they draw its audiences together.

Rockbund Art Museum would like to thank the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation and the many institutions that graciously loaned their pieces, both for their generous help and their assistance in bringing this exhibition into realization.

值美国传奇艺术家费利克斯·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯逝世二十周年之际，上海外滩美术馆很荣幸向您呈现这位在当代艺术史上具有广泛影响力的艺术家在中国的首场个人展览。从2016年9月30日到12月25日，上海外滩美术馆将举办冈萨雷斯－托雷斯的综合性个展。艺术家以突破传统的创作方法以及作品中尖锐的敏感性而享有广泛的声誉，其作品的特性也使得本次展览超越了一般回顾展的范畴，更包含了对其艺术的创新性解读和全新构建。

展览从全球30家艺术机构甄选冈萨雷斯-托雷斯创作于1987至1995年间的40余件作品，集中呈现了艺术家早期及高峰期的艺术创作。公共与私人，集体与个人之间的张力、融合与对抗构成了冈萨雷斯-托雷斯创作中反复出现的主题。冈萨雷斯-托雷斯的许多作品都以身边日常的物件为材料，展览中的灯泡、挂钟、糖果、镜子，甚至一串日期都既是作品本身，也是解读作品的线索，邀请观众通过视觉、触觉，乃至味觉的多重体验，来探索这些在公众和私人领域至今依然相关的议题：从宏观层面的规模化生产、舆论导向，以及少数群体的代表，到更为个人化的主题，如：后工业社会对个体性格的压抑，爱情与时间无可挽回的逝去等。

观众将在美术馆二楼见到冈萨雷斯-托雷斯最为人所知的作品之一——《“无题”（罗斯在洛杉矶的肖像）》。这是一件极为敏感和微妙的肖像：无需再用照片或者绘画来描绘这个无比熟悉的人的脸孔和外表，只需要一个亲密的、诗意的、情欲的动作，把一个人的身体与另一个人的身体相连。糖果的重量随着时间而逐渐消减，一如罗斯病重时逐渐消瘦直至最终失逝去的情景。

冈萨雷斯-托雷斯活跃于1980年代至1990年代的纽约艺术圈，当时的美国社会和艺术家群体都深受艾滋病蔓延的重创。这一特殊的创作背景对艺术家的个人生活以及创作都造成了深远的影响。然而，如果我们局限于这一视角来解读他的作品，则会陷入过于狭隘的程式化解读。艺术作品的生命力在于其和不同时代以及社会对话并产生关联的能力。21世纪的中国对于一位美国艺术家创作于30年前的作品而言，无疑是一个具有挑战性的全新语境，而冈萨雷斯-托雷斯作品中因地制宜的特质，使得它们能随着展出地点的不同在形式上做出相应的调整，当下中国的观众们也能从艺术家细腻微妙的作品中，感受到突破地域或时间限制的情感和审美体验。《“无题”（北）》贯穿于美术馆二楼到五楼的楼梯井中，用点点灯光照亮了每一步阶梯；摇曳于二楼窗边的淡蓝色纱帘为美术馆的空间蒙上了一层浪漫温柔的滤镜；观众也可以在《 “无题”（舞场）》恍惚的光影中与自己的同伴一起戴上耳机，随着音乐跳一支华尔兹。

作品中包含的后现代社会的症结将很容易与中国的观众产生共鸣：社交媒体、网络与电视带来过甚的信息洪流的同时，个体的身份和地方的联结却变得越来越模糊。早在1990年代末，中国的艺术家群体便瞥见了冈萨雷斯-托雷斯在身份政治领域的贡献，而他敏感细腻的表达手法也被广泛引用，只是这种主流阐释的流行在很大程度上遮蔽了艺术家创作的多面性。

即将在上海外滩美术馆展出的“费利克斯·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯”个展将突破以往的标签和定义，以一种全新的方式来呈现艺术家的创作。观众在观看作品的同时也不断改变着作品的面貌，赋予其新的含义。这种互动性使得冈萨雷斯-托雷斯的作品在指涉政治与社会议题的同时又不失亲密感。他的作品诙谐、犀利鲜明，吸引着观众投身作品的同时也反观自身。

上海外滩美术馆在此衷心感谢费利克斯·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯基金会，以及众多慷慨借出作品的藏家和机构对展览的支持。