See “Untitled” (L.A.) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres on display at Bowman Library through January 2026
Thanks to a partnership between Menlo College and the Art Bridges Foundation, Bowman Library has the extraordinary opportunity to exhibit “Untitled” (L.A.), one of twenty candy works by Cuban-born American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957- 1996).
Felix Gonzalez-Torres is known for his significant contributions to the field of conceptual art in the 1980s and 1990s. Although he started his formal art practice with a focus on photography, Gonzalez-Torres explored many mediums while building his oeuvre and became well-known for his installation works. Utilizing a minimalist visual vocabulary and everyday materials such as puzzles, candies, strings of lights, and stacks of paper, the artist created installations that subverted traditional expectations of high art and the experience of art ("Felix Gonzalez-Torres"). Gonzalez-Torres was interested in the overlap between private and public life, and his experience living as an openly gay man in New York during the height of the AIDs epidemic in America often imbued his art in works exploring themes of love and loss, sickness and rejuvenation, and gender and sexuality (Obrist 309-310).
Gonzalez-Torres believed that the participation of the viewer was essential to the power and meaning-making of his work (Obrist 315). With Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” (L.A.) and other candy works, viewers are allowed to take pieces of candy from the installation, creating a dynamic installation whose evolution and interpretation is dependent upon the specific context of time, place, and audience interaction of each manifestation of the work.
Join us as we celebrate “Untitled” (L.A.)’s debut in the library at the Opening Exhibit on May 7th, 2025 from 6-7pm and keep an eye out for additional programming in the Fall! We invite you to take a look (and perhaps, a candy), and see how the artwork evolves with campus interaction throughout the year.
You can find “Untitled” (L.A.) on display in the library lobby from now until January 31, 2026.
REFERENCES:
"Felix Gonzalez-Torres." Guggenheim New York, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/felix-gonzalez-torres. Accessed 30 April 2025.
Obrist, Hans-Ulrich. "Gonzalez-Torres, Felix." Hans-Ulrich Obrist: Interviews, edited by Thomas Boutoux, vol. 1, Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery, 2003, pp. 308 – 316.
“Untitled” (L.A.) is jointly owned by Art Bridges and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
The final weeks of the Spring semester are upon us! Bowman Library is open for extended hours during finals and will host various de-stress activities during these last two weeks of the semester.
Extended hours will run from Monday, May 5th to Friday, May 16th, opening 8 AM - 1 AM Monday-Wednesday, 8 AM - 9 PM Thursday, 8 AM - 5 PM on Friday, and 1 PM- 1 AM Sunday each week. The library will remain closed on Saturdays.
Take breaks from your studying and relax with activities like coloring and puzzle-solving or refreshments like coffee or tea, all of which will be available at the library during this time. Want a bigger break? Come to one of the many final weeks events sponsored by the Library, the Office of Student Affairs, and other groups across campus! Highlights include:
We hope to see you at the library or at one of these final weeks events on campus! Good luck with finals!
Don't forget- Need help? Just ask!