The Candy Portrait

Free sugar at the museum

Happy Friday! Here are some candies: 🍬🍬🍬

Oh never mind. I can’t give you as much sugar as this work contains. Its label says “ideal weight: 175 pounds.”

What does it mean by “ideal”? It is

… likely the average body weight of an adult male, or perhaps the ideal weight of the subject referred to in the title, Ross Laycock, the artist’s partner who died of complications from AIDS in 1991.

And the large elephant in the room would be whether you can take the candy or not. The wording of “ideal” and the missing signs of “Do Not Touch” seems to indicate that it is fine. As a museum regular I tend to be more conservative, but the security guard nearby keeps telling everyone to feel free to take one (candy). Very rare.

It’s sort of inviting the loss. Or in another perspective, inviting the sharing act. There is the law of conservation of mass; someone else might gain something while it’s a loss in another aspect. This is definitely the best philosophy to turn things around.

I don’t know why but I still feel a little sad.

“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.