The Gaze of Ulysses: On the Correspondence Between Félix González-Torres and Roni Horn

Authors

Keywords: correspondence, identity, narrativity, Roni Horn, Félix González-Torres, contemporary art

Abstract

Félix González-Torres (Guaimaro, 1957) and Roni Horn (New York, 1955) maintained a friendship shaped by their respective private lives. Both in the private and public spheres, these two creators have devoted their lives to artistic practice, delving into fundamental aspects of contemporary subject identity that would lay the groundwork for many of the conceptual lines of art in the period immediately following the twentieth century. Deeply interested in proxemic relationships and the construction of inner geography, the work of both Horn and González-Torres is grounded in a conception of identity as a relational experience, in which the individual is defined through the narrativity of the events that shape them. This article is based on an exhaustive analysis of the five works that, functioning as epistolary gestures, the two artists dedicated to each other up until the death of González-Torres in 1996 due to AIDS. It thus further explores the various conceptual correspondences present in their respective bodies of work, articulated through the powerful affective dimension that permeates their ways of engaging with the world.

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Author Biography

Gonzalo José Tejero Pérez, Universidad de Granada

Artist, Master’s student in Art Production and Research and collaboration fellowship at the HUM-611 Research Group, New Materials for Contemporary Art, Department of Painting, University of Granada. His work explores place-based identity in the contemporary context through intermedial artistic practices that incorporate new technologies. He has presented and exhibited their work at national and international exhibitions and conferences in cities such as Paris, Madrid, Seville, and Ourense. His works have received awards and are part of prestigious collections, including the Contemporary Art Collection of the University of Granada and the Atalaya Collection of the Public Universities of Andalusia.

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Published
31-07-2026
How to Cite
Tejero Pérez, G. J. (2026). The Gaze of Ulysses: On the Correspondence Between Félix González-Torres and Roni Horn. Arte Y Políticas De Identidad, 35, 94–113. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/reapi/article/view/695611
Issue
Vol. 35 (2026): Visualidades y narrativas contestatarias: tecnologías disidentes, ecologías críticas y políticas de la imagen
Section
Articles

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