Independent Study Program: Open Letter & Solidarity Statement

Image: "Forbidden Colors" (1988) by ISP alum Felix Gonzalez Torres. Installed in Felix Gonzalez-Torres: This Place. Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 30 Oct. 2015 – 24 Jan. 2016. Cur. Eoin Dara. Image courtesy of Metropolitan Arts Centre. © Estate of Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

It is a fact people are discriminated against for being HIV positive. It is a fact the majority of the Nazi industrialists retained their wealth after the war. It is a fact the night belongs to Michelob and Coke is real. It is a fact the color of your skin matters. It is a fact Crazy Eddie's prices are insane. It is a fact that four colors--red, black, green and white--placed next to each other in any form are strictly forbidden by the Israeli army in the occupied Palestinian territories. This color combination can cause an arrest, a beating, a curfew, a shooting, or a news photograph. Yet it is a fact that these forbidden colors, presented as a solitary act of consciousness here in Soho, will not precipitate a similar reaction.

From the first moment of encounter, the four color canvases in this room will "speak" to everyone. Some will define them as an exercise in color theory, or some sort of abstraction. Some as four boring rectangular canvases hanging on the wall. A few experts will interpret them as yet another minimalist ecstasy. Now that you've read this text, I hope for a different message.

For all the PWAs.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres
New York City 1988

[source: The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation]