“Untitled” (Last Light), 1993. light bulbs, plastic light sockets, extension cord and dimmer switch overall dimensions vary with installation This work is number 23 from an edition of 24 plus six artist’s proofs and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.Ο

PROVENANCE Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
EXHIBITED Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, Portraits, Plots and Places: The Permanent Collection Revisited, January 7, 1992 (another example exhibited) New York, Exit Art/The First World,…it’s how you play the game, November 5, 1994 – February 11, 1995 (another example exhibited) New York, Betsy Senior Gallery, A.R.T. Press: Prints and Multiples, January 12 – February 4, 1995 (another example exhibited) Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Felix Gonzalez- Torres (A Possible Landscape), December 12, 1995 – March 3, 1996 (another example exhibited) New York, Feature, Inc., The Moderns, June 1 – July 28, 1995 (another example exhibited) Cincinnati, The Contemporary Arts Center, Memento Mori, November 29, 1996 – January 5, 1997 (another example exhibited) Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Felix Gonzalez-Torres (Girlfriend in a Coma), April 11 – June 16, 1996 (another example exhibited) Houston, Lawing Gallery, Silence, September 12 – October 19, 1996 (another example exhibited) London, 148 St John Street, Blue Horizon, May 13 – June 3, 1998 (another example exhibited) Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Proliferation, March 7 – June 20, 1999 (another example exhibited) San Angel, Mexico, Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Colección Jumex, April 21 – August 8, 1999 (another example exhibited) Paris, Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, Always Paris, November 10 – December 23, 2000 (another example exhibited) Ecatepec, Mexico, La Colección Jumex, Killing Time and Listening Between the Lines, March 15, 2003 – February 13, 2004 (another example exhibited) Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, Shadowland: An Exhibition as Film, April 16 –September 11, 2005 (another example exhibited) Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Blake Byrne Collection, July 3 – October 10, 2005 (another example exhibited) Cascais, Portugal, Listen, Ellipse Foundation Art Centre, Darling…The World is Yours, October 11, 2008 – August 30, 2009 (another example exhibited) Aspen, Aspen Art Museum, Now You See It, December 19, 2008 – February 1, 2009 (another example exhibited) Virginia Beach, The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Transformed, July 11–September 28, 2008 (another example exhibited) Ecatepec, Mexico, La Colección Jumex, An Unruly History of the Readymade, September 6, 2008 – March 8, 2009 (another example exhibited) Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years, November 14, 2009 - May 3, 2010 (another example exhibited) Sigean, France, Lieu D’Art Contemporain Narbonne, Playtime: Works from the Klosterfelde Collection, June 25 - September 25, 2011 Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Felix Gonzalez Torres in the Modern Wing, July 20, 2011 – January 8, 2012 (another example exhibited)
LITERATUR ED. Gonzalez-Foerster, et al, ed. Moment Ginza: City Guide, Stockholm: Magasin and Färgfabriken, 1997, pp. 28, 29 (another example illustrated) D. Elger, et al., ed. Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Catalogue Raisonné, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 1997, no. 246, p. 125 (another example illustrated) T. Ragasol, ed. Colección Jumex, San Ángel, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes/ Museo de Arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil, 1999, p. 14 M. Darling and A. Goldstein, The Blake Byrne Collection, Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005, p. 38 F. Sanchez, Ellipse Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, Cascais, Portugal: Ellipse Foundation, 2006 N. Bray and C. Baldwin, Transformed, Virginia Beach, The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, 2008, pp. 4, 9, 20 (another example illustrated) R. Slovak, ed. Now You See It. Aspen, Aspen Art Museum, 2008, pp. 58-59 “Selected New Acquisitions,” The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Magazine Winter 2008 - Spring 2009, p. 36 “Principales acquisitions,” La revue des musées de France Acquisitions, 2009-2010, Paris: rmn Grandpalais, 2011, p. 88 (another example illustrated)
“Untitled’ (Last Light), 1993, goes beyond the precedence of Minimalist sculpture in its humanization of the object and its poetic intimacy. The warmth of the lights, as well as their all-too evident fragility, particularly in the present lot which is installed at the owner’s will, attributes to an eloquent metaphor for the vulnerability of the human body. Gonzalez-Torres began the light strings in the early 1990s, as a memorial to his late partner, Ross Laycock, who died in 1991. The inaugural work, Untitled (March 5th), is comprised of two incandescent bulbs dangling from entwined cords. As with the present lot, this earlier piece speaks not only to the powerful nature of love and human connection, but also to the impermanence of life. The raw, industrial beauty of the light bulb series coupled with their almost ethereal quality make this series among his most stunning, both aesthetically and emotionally. Felix Gonzalez- Torres’ work is both ephemerally beautiful and deeply profound. “Untitled” (Last Light), 1993, is arguably one of Felix’s most intense works and is imbued with a beautiful melancholy. While the pile of glowing lights is still bright and vibrant, they will slowly begin to fade, inevitably one before the other, until they all burn out. Gonzalez-Torres’ art embraces contradictions and evokes an incredible appreciation for life, eloquently captured in this striking piece.