SAN ANTONIO, TX.- In 2010,
Artpace San Antonio mounted an ambitious statewide exhibition of 13 billboard works, created by Cuban-born, American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996), in support of Artpaces 15th anniversary.
This presentation was the first survey of Gonzalez-Torres billboard works in the United States. Situated deliberately in the publics path in 335 locations throughout four regional Texas cities (San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and El Paso), the artworks gracefully interrupted daily routines with poignant reflections on the experience of life, love and humanity. The transcendent quality of Gonzalez-Torres work was magnified in the Texas landscape, and the project garnered international attention for its unprecedented presentation of this remarkable body of work.
Now celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015, Artpace, in collaboration with Radius Books, is thrilled to announce the completion of Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Billboards. The book catalogs 13 of Gonzalez-Torres iconic billboard works and exhaustively documents the full scope of the 2010 exhibition.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Billboards beautifully illustrates the ways these artworks can re-contextualize the locations in which they are installed and how they can continually accrue meaning in new settings, said Emilie Keldie, Director of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation. Gonzalez-Torres considered the ongoing photo-documentation of the billboard works to be a conceptual part of the artworks themselves; the Billboards book is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in that aspect of the work.
We are thrilled to have co-published a project with Artpace, and to have done so with such an iconic book. Felix Gonzales-Torres billboard works are an incredibly important body of work, and it has been really gratifying to see this survey realized in printed form, said David Chickey, Publisher at Radius Books. This project would have never been possible without the exhaustive research and support of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation and the staff at Artpace.
Gonzalez-Torres was part of the first cycle of residencies at Artpace in 1995. The artist is known for his use of common materials, such as strands of beads, candies, and stacks of paper. With certain artworks, people may choose to physically interact with the works creating a highly personal exchange between the viewer and the artwork.
Artpace is truly humbled to have the opportunity to celebrate this body of work through the book, said Sue Graze, Interim Executive Director at Artpace. As one of the first resident artists, Felix Gonzalez-Torres made such an impact on Artpace and we couldnt think of a better way to honor the artists contributions to our organization.