"Untitled" (Ross in L.A.) 1991

Felix Gonzalez-Torres made "Untitled" (Ross in L.A.) by stacking sheets of paper, each printed with an image, into a neat, minimalist block. The piece is both an artwork and a process; viewers are invited to take a sheet, gradually diminishing the sculpture. The surface of the paper stack is cool and pristine, almost clinical, but the act of taking a sheet introduces a personal, tactile element. Each removed sheet creates absence, but also dispersal of the image into the world, a metaphor perhaps for memory, loss, and the ongoing life of an idea. It reminds me of Eva Hesse's use of repetition and seriality, but Gonzalez-Torres adds this layer of participation and ephemerality. It's a quiet piece, but also radical in its openness, it speaks to how art can be a generative act of giving, of sharing, of saying goodbye.