Wakefield Residence
Westkill, NY, USA
@nevillewakefield
Posted to Instagram on June 13, 2020: "As our nation reaches for the more inclusive equitable place that systemic racial and sexual prejudice have long denied us it’s hard not to reflect on the ways in which disease - supposedly the great leveler of gender race and economic standing – has served to reveal the fault-lines of a society that is anything but level. Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” (Fortune Cookie Corner), 1990, was conceived during a time when an epidemic of another sort was ravaging the LGBQT community. Like much of his work it reflected not just the tragedy of human loss and the deep divide between public and private, action and inaction that such disregard for the health and well-being of a minority so brutally exposed, but also the hope that must accompany the struggle to realize ourselves in better ways. The most recent manifestation of this work is the most inclusive as well expansive. As of May 25th one thousand fortune cookie corners make up a show that transforms a similar number of people into temporary custodians of a work that is at once ephemeral and persistent - the piles as they are depleted must be replenished - visible and invisible. The sites which are spread across the globe include my own corner in upstate New York. Here, where social distancing is the norm, there are few visitors and the modest pile sits in expectation of an audience it may never receive. It perhaps goes without saying that the ethics of staging and participating in such a show at such a time are complicated, as is the Catholic aspect of Gonzalez-Torres’ eucharistic approach to the unseen body of work. But amidst these reservations, the meditation on the sweetness of life and the inevitability of loss remains as poignant as the messages of hope and fortune it carries within. In these times of great dis-ease Gonzalez-Torres’ fortune cookies become momento mori to those less fortunate than ourselves. #fgtš„ exhibition @felixgonzaleztorres.foundation @andrearosengal @davidzwirner #fortunecookie #publicprivate #momentomori #bettertomorrow"
