The Art Institute of Chicago has quite an interesting exhibit going on right now. It is a piece of edible art by Felix Gonzalez-Torres involving, you guessed it, candy. Now don't get too excited, just because there's free candy does not make this a happy story. Quite the contrary, actually. Each individually wrapped candy represents love as well as death. It represents both happiness and disease. Each piece of this 175 pound candy pile is a part of a story.You see, this piece is the artist's representation of his lover, Ross Lay-Cock, who tragically died of AIDS in 1991. Ross' ideal body weight had been 175 pounds so with every piece of candy taken, the pile gets a bit lighter. This is symbolic of the weight Lay-Cock had lost due to his illness. The difference between this exhibit's weight-loss is that it is easily replinished. The pile is always refilled, granting the artist's wish for his lover to live on. I believe we are ingesting a symbolic piece of the man by taking him into ourselves and letting a piece of him live on in us. I was very moved with the story behind this exhibit and hope you have been, too.
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