Art Lies, Volume 32, Fall 2001 Page: 6
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Dario Robleto
No one would argue that Billie Holiday's music is
more poignant once you know her life story or the
social conditions from which it sprung, nor would
Felix's work be able to transcend the fact that it is just
a bed or just a pile of candy, if not for his personal
story and cultural moment. This was one of those life
changing moments when I realized that the level of
commitment and dedication that would be required
of me to understand this man's work was unlike any I
had previously known. The trickle down effect of
such a moment is quite significant. While he has cer-
tainly complexified my world he has also simplified it,
and to be quite honest not much holds up to his
example. I realize this idea of context may seem so
obvious to us now, but do you remember when you
first realized it? Do you remember the day you truly
understood the power of metaphor? I do. It was
because of Felix.
Heartstrings begin to break and context displays its
full potency when you learn that Felix's lover and
companion, Ross Laycock, had just recently died in
1991 of AIDS. Felix himself would succumb to the
disease only a few years later. And only 5 years before
the production of the piece the Supreme Court, in its
infamous Bowers vs. Hardwick ruling, had decided
that consenting adults had no protection from gov-
ernment intrusion into the privacy of their own
bedrooms. They were basically upholding the right
of the state to prosecute gay men and lesbians who
participated in certain sexual activities.
Here was the magic of Felix's piece; he could in one
gesture so delicately say goodbye to his love and what
he must have known by then was his own impending
goodbye, and yet there is a real aggression to the
piece. A real anger at the invasive tactics and moral
judgment placed on his being. Anger at the disrespect
shown to thousands as they slowly deteriorated to a
disease that our government and society could not
come to terms with.
What needs to be stressed here and which I feel
can't be overstated is the way in which Felix chose to
address this anger. Integrity, a personality trait that is
often in short supply, which for me validates every
gesture he has made. There is a real strength and
integrity to his anger, never letting it turn him into
that which he was so critical of. He never chose togive in to shock tactics when so many others did, he
knew that shock could never encompass the subtlety
and nuance of what was an equally complicated and
nuanced anger. Under the delicacy was pure romantic
aggression. It is a Trojan horse of a piece, sneaking
inside the heart only to burst from within.
Felix was a master at the use of ambiguity as a
poetic and critical device. Choosing the ambiguous
"Untitled" for virtually every piece, and because his
personal story was not readily available to the thou-
sands who saw these billboards, you would think he
was avoiding the personal and political issues his work
is known for. Felix simply recognized the value of self-
discovery. It is there if you want it and open ended
enough that each of us could personalize it, but this
ambiguity should never be mistaken for a non-posi-
tion. When you peel away the layers, much is at stake.
Lines are being drawn. When you consider the fact
that Felix has chosen one of the most public of adver-
tising vehicles, such as the billboard, to magnify an
intimate private space between two individuals whom
the state has deemed as engaging in illegal behavior
and then post this image across the city, it is hard not
to realize positions are being claimed. It is not
ambiguous but real, and concerns all of our lives;
heterosexual, homosexual, faithful, faithless we have
all lied under Felix's sheets.
I will never forget as a young art student the
moment the full weight and consequence of Felix's
billboard crashed down on me. I remember how
unnerved but excited I felt at the political and social
capabilities art had, and how impressed I was with
what seemed his brazen handling of topics such as
love and romanticism. The cynicism and pessimism
that permeate our post-modern moment have not
allowed for a real re-investigation of love and roman-
ticism, concepts that are difficult to raise even now.
Of course, Felix rejected this from day one. That was
what I needed to hear at that moment in my life more
than anything else, and it is something we all need to
hear today. Love doesn't have to be petty or bogged
down in cliche, love is subversive and romanticism
can again be a critical tool. Felix knew this, and set a
standard for all of us to aspire to. It is something
I grapple with to this day.6 ARTL!ES Fall 2001
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Bryant, John & Huerta, Benito. Art Lies, Volume 32, Fall 2001, periodical, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228062/m1/8/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .