Explore the Description and Installation Parameters of this artwork.
González-Torres specified installations parameters for "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers). The work consists of two identical commercial wall clocks displayed side-by-side so that they are touching, ideally installed above head height where a wall clock would typically hang on the wall. The original clocks measure 13 1/2 in. each in diameter. The clocks must be of exactly the same dimensions and design/type.
The clocks must be set to the same time initially though they may fall out of sync over the course of an exhibition. If one or both of the clocks stops functioning, the clocks are deinstalled and repaired, then reinstalled and reset to the same time, allowing the piece to theoretically last forever.Matthew Isherwood said that "like all of Torres’s work, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) uses materials that could be considered everyday or mundane to extend and explore queer personal desire". Several of González-Torres' artworks including "Untitled" (Double Portrait), a paper stack work printed with two side-by-side gold rings, "Untitled" (March 5) #1 (1991), a work consisting of two round mirrors installed side-by-side, and "Untitled" (Sagitario), 1994-1995, two side-by-side circular pools of water, incorporate a visual motif of paired circles similar to "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers).Three of the four editions of "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990) are owned by public collections: the Dallas Museum of Art; Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland; and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. The fourth is in a private collection.
Following Laycock's death in 1991, the artist created a nearly identical work by the same name. "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1991) similarly consists of two identical wall clocks but also includes light blue paint, which the exhibitor can choose to use to paint the wall of the installation location. The later work is owned by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and was formally considered by the artist to be a separate work of art from "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990).
Dallas Museum of Art Potomac, Maryland Wadsworth Atheneum New York Glenstone Hartford, Connecticut Museum of Modern Art