Ahtziry Alcocer-Amaro
Diana Cardenas
Craig Deaderick
Salvador Diaz-Morones
Angelique Esparza
Nakalyah Fabello
Untitled (L.V.) 3, 2022
Courtesy of the artists

This work was on loan for the exhibition, Untitled (Valley High School), at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, January 17 - January 28, 2023

Statement from the artists:
This Gonzalez-Torres-inspired piece shows the significance of Gonzalez-Torres' implication of emotion as well as self-experience. The different flower stages can be seen as a representation of stages or cycles, while the different colors represent emotion. On the other hand, the vase can show the point of view of two different people. The solid side can be seen as a "perfect person," while the linear layered glaze can be compared to erosion in rocks over different periods of time and represent what a person may go through in life.

Gonzalez-Torres often used everyday mundane materials within his artwork just as we did by creating paper flowers. We made attempts to recreate his approach to art creation while adding our own twist. This concept was developed when our group visited Felix Gonzales-Torres' art exhibit here at UNLV and in consideration of why he created his infamous "Untitled" (L.A.) artwork. He was greatly impacted by the loss of his significant other. Many themes can be deduced based on the art piece. One main theme we wanted to shed light upon is not to judge a book by its cover. You can see what a person looks like on the outside, yet you may not know their true feelings and experiences. The same way a "perfect person" may look compared to someone who has been through a great deal.

(As Felix Gonzalez-Torres' artwork is interactive, we encourage exhibit guests to create their own flower to add to the vase and even modify the flowers within the vase to their own discretion.)

Item description: Multicolored paper flowers composed of contrasting patterns, some filling up a vase, others scattered around it. The vase is painted navy on one half, while the other half features wavy lateral stripes in shifting browns.